Jacopo Bassano (Jacopo Da Ponte), The Chaste Susanna
1536
Oil on canvas
Museo Civico, Bassano del Grappa, Italy
In Vulgate Daniel 13:15-16 two of the Jewish elders in Babylon spy on Susanna as she bathes in her husband's orchard. Inflamed with passion, they demand that she have sex with them. When she refuses, they make a public accusation that they saw her lying with a young man in the orchard. After Susanna prays to God for deliverance, the young Daniel comes forth to elicit the truth and condemn the elders.
The painting illustrates the beginning of the narrative. After the two elders held court in the home of Susanna and her husband, "the people departed away at noon" (seen in the right background) and the elders stayed on, the one in red spying on Susanna and the one in white demanding her submission.
Apple trees are pictured in the main scene and the background. The Vulgate's pomarium can mean any kind of orchard but is related etymologically to pomum, "apple."
The Chaste Susanna is the title given on the museum's label. Most images of this type bear the title Susanna and the Elders or something similar.
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Read more about images of Daniel and Susanna.
Photographed at the museum by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.