Susanna and the Elders

The theme of Susanna and the Elders was very well-known in Venice by the end of the sixteenth century, but not in Rome. It seems likely that its increased popularity in the Eternal City was the direct result of Annibale Carracci and his school. Annibale had made a print of Susanna and the Elders before he left Bologna, and in Rome he took up the theme again in a lost painting described by Bellori. Sisto Badalocchio’s monumental figures are similar to those in Annibale’s print, although Susanna is more clearly derived from antique examples of the Crouching Venus. The normal garden setting and fountain in which Susanna bathes have been reduced to the bare minimum; only a few trees and a classical pedestal suggest the rest. Thus the figures, which are close to life-size, have a commanding psychological presence and the palpability of Susanna’s semi-nude body seems all the more sexually arousing.

Because of the inscription ‘A.CAR.BON.F.’, the picture has been variously attributed to Annibale, Agostino, and Antonio Carracci. However, none of these artists is known to have signed works solely with the initial `A’. By 1657, when the picture was recorded in the collection of Donna Olimpia Aldobrandini, it had already been taken off its stretcher, strongly suggesting that it was not by an artist of Annibale’s stature (or perhaps that the subject was considered too provocative). The signature was first recorded in the nineteenth century and technical evidence suggests that it floats on the surface. It was therefore probably added at a later date to enhance the value of the painting.

In 1602 Badalocchio was sent by the Duke of Parma to study with Annibale in Rome, where he remained until the master’s death in 1609. His Roman works, such as the Susanna and the Hartford Holy Family, unite the grandeur of Annibale’s style with a pictorial richness of colour and light that reflects Badalocchio’s Emilian background. The plump, round faces and relief-like effect of the drapery’s sinuous folds are similar in both pictures. The compact grouping of the figures around a recessive diagonal is also more characteristic of Badalocchio than of any of the members of the Carracci family.