Artemisia Gentileschi - Susanna and the Elders

 

Artemisia Gentileschi

Rome 1593 - after 1654 Naples

Susanna and the Elders

oil on canvas

104 3/8 by 82 5/8 in.; 265 by 210 cm

Provenance

Probably Luigi Romeo, Barone di San Luigi, Naples, before 1642 (with its pendant depicting David and Bathsheba);

Private collection, France, by 1990s;

By whom anonymously sold ("Property of a Gentleman"), London, Sotheby’s, 6 December 1995, lot 53 (as Artemisia Gentileschi);

There acquired.

Literature

B. De Dominici, Vite de'pittori, scultori, ed architetti napoletani, vol. III, Rome 1742, pp. 198-9;

E. Brunetti, Situazione di Viviano Codazzi, Florence 1956 pp. 59-60, note 28;

Colnaghi, exhibition catalogue, London 1963, under cat. no. 25, reproduced plate 14;

"Notable Works of Art now on the Market", in The Burlington Magazine, vol. CV (June 1963), supplement III, opposite p. 292 (as the unlocated pendant to the Columbus David and Bathsheba);

G.L. Briganti, L. Trezzani, and L. Laureati, "Viviano Codazzi", in Pittori Bergamaschi dal XIII al XIX secolo, Il Seicento, vol. I, 1983, p. 706, cat. no. 161, under missing works (as a collaborative work with the figures by Artemisia, the architecture by Codazzi, and the landscape by Micco Spadaro);

N. Spinosa, La pittura napoletana del '600, Naples 1984, reproduced plate 424 and in color plate VII (as a collaborative work between Artemisia, Codazzi, and Gargiulo);

M.D. Garrard, Artemisia Gentileschi, 1989, 516, note 212, (as the untraced pendant to the Columbus David and Bathsheba);

R. Contini, in Artemisia, exhibition catalogue, Florence 1991, pp. 113, 179 (as difficult but probably Artemisia with Codazzi and Gargiulo);

D. Ryley Marshall, Viviano & Niccolo Codazzi & Baroque Architectural Fantasy, Milan 1993, pp. 153-155, cat. no. VC56 (as a collaborative work between Artemisia, Viviano Codazzi, and Gargiulo, datable to either shortly before 1638 or circa 1641);

G. Sestieri in Sestieri and B. Dapra, Domenico Gargiulo detto Micco Spadaro, paesaggista e ‘cronista’ napoletano, Milan 1994, pp. 3, 92, cat. no. 23 (as a collaborative work between Artemisia, Codazzi, and Gargiulo);

G. Pagliarulo, “Artemisia: La Betsabea di Gosford House,” in Nuovi Studi vol. I (1996), p. 154;

R.W. Bissell, Artemisia Gentileschi and the Authority of Art, University Park 1999, pp. 85, 266-67, cat. no. 38 (as a collaborative work with the figure of Susanna and prime responsibility for the composition by Artemisia, the Elders possibly by Cavallino, and the architecture and background by Gargiulo after a design by Codazzi, and as datable to 1637/8 and the pendant to the Columbus David and Bathsheba);

R. Lattuada, in Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi, K. Christiansen and J.W. Mann (eds.), exhibition catalogue, New York 2001, pp. 384-385, 390-391 notes 54-57 (as a collaborative work with the figure of Susanna by Artemisia, the Elders by Cavallino, and the architecture and  background by Gargiulo after a design by Codazzi and as pendant to the Columbus David and Bathsheba);

J.W. Mann, in Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi, K. Christiansen and J.W. Mann (eds.), exhibition catalogue, New York 2001, p. 417 under cat. no. 80, reproduced p. 414, fig. 144 (as difficult to attribute to Artemisia and more likely Cavallino);

L. Treves (ed.), Artemisia, exhibition catalogue, London 2020, pp. 214, 216, under cat. no. 33, 235 note 4 (as a collaborative work with Codazzi and Gargiulo, and as pendant to the Columbus David and Bathsheba).

Exhibited

Requested for the forthcoming exhibition organized by Professor Giuseppe Porzio and Dottor Antonio Ernesto Denunzio, Artemisia Gentileschi a Napoli, to be held in the Gallerie d’Italia, Naples, December 2022- March 2023.

Catalogue Note

This painting is almost certainly one of a pair of pictures described by Bernardo de Dominici in the collection of Luigi Romeo, Barone di San Luigi as follows: In casa del fu Dotto Luigi Romeo, Barone di S. Luigi, che ha sempre professato buon gusto in genere di pittura, ed ove solean trattenersi a divertimento molti virtuosi Pittori de' qui nominati, veggonsi opere egregie dello Spadaro... Due quadri grandi con figure al naturale, che esprimono le storie di Bersabea, e Susanna, che sembran di mano di Guido son depinti dalla famosa Artemisia Gentileschi, e l'Archittetura di Viviano, con gli arbori, e vedute dello Spadaro....¹ The companion painting of Bathsheba is now in the Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio (fig. 1). The painting exemplifies the genre for which Artemisia is best known today: history paintings featuring female protagonists.

FIG. 1. ARTEMISIA GENTILESCHI, BATHSHEBA, OIL ON CANVAS, 104 1/2 X 82 1/2 IN. INV. 1906.006

Sometimes presented by latter-day scholars as a proto-feminist, Artemisia reveled in depictions of female heroines such as Judith and Sisera, as well as more traditional subjects such as Cleopatra, Danae, and female personifications of allegories. In the present work the heroine rejects the advances of unsavory elders seeking to test her fidelity to her husband. First depicted by Artemisia at the same time as her rape trial against Agostino Tassi in 1611, the subject of Susanna has become for modern viewers a symbol of the artist and her struggle against abuse and misogyny, whether or not this was the intention of the artist. What is clear, however, is that religious and mythological subjects featuring the female nude delighted Artemisia’s patrons.

Artemisia’s collaboration with fellow painters in Naples during her late career has been the subject of much scholarly debate. In the present lot and its pendant, Artemisia was responsible for the overall design and conception as well as the primary female nude figures, and indeed Garrard catalogued it as the work of Artemisia alone, and Spinosa believes all figures are by Artemisia. As recorded by de' Dominici the architecture is probably the work of Viviano Codazzi (1604 - 1672) and the background by Domenico Gargiulo, called Micco Spadaro (1609 - 1675). This arrangement has been supported by the majority of authors to discuss this painting in the last century, though opinions differ slightly on whether Viviano designed or executed the architecture. It has also been suggested, by Bissell, Lattuada, and Mann, that the present figures of the Elders, and possibly also the discarded slipper, are the work of Bernardo Cavallino (1616 - c. 1656), who was well established in Naples at this time. Other collaborations with varying levels of participation from Cavallino, Viviano and/or Gargiulo include the Bathsheba formerly in the Museum der bildenden Kunst, Leipzig and sold Sotheby's New York, 29 January 2020, lot 41,² as well as the St. Januarius in the Amphitheatre at Pozzuoli and Saints Proculus and Nicea, both now in the Museo di San Martino, Pozzuoli.

Artemisia was a chameleonic painter who adapted her style, palette, and technique to the city in which she was working, and the present lot demonstrates the Neapolitan elements she picked up from her surroundings--strong chiaroscuro used to model the figure and accents of saturated primary colors in the draperies. Garrard and Bissell propose a date for the pendant pair of 1637/38, just before Artemisia's departure for London, though she continued to work in Naples upon her return in 1641. According to Alessandro da Morrona in 1792, Artemisia painted another large scale pair of Bathsheba and Susanna for Averardo dei Medici in 1652; that Bathsheba is probably the one now in the Pitti Palace, Florence, but the Susanna is untraced.³

The painting has been requested for the forthcoming exhibition organized by Professor Giuseppe Porzio and Dottore Antonio Ernesto Denunzio, Artemisia Gentileschi a Napoli, to be held in the Gallerie d’Italia, Naples, December 2022- March 2023.

1. “In the house of the late, learned Luigi Romeo, Baron of S. Luigi, who has always professed good taste in the genre of painting, and where many virtuous painters mentioned here used to linger, there are excellent works by Spadaro... Two large paintings with life-size figures that tell the stories of Bathsheba and Susanna, which appear to be by the hand of Guido were painted by the famous Artemisia Gentileschi, and the architecture is by Viviano, with the trees and view by Spadaro.”

2. Related versions of the former Leipzig Bathsheba are now in Florence and Bari. See Garrard 1989

3. Oil on canvas, 286 by 214 cm. Pisa Illustrata nelle arti del Disegno, vol. II, 1792, pp. 269-70, reference cited by Contini 1991, p. 27.