Albrecht Altdorfer
Unlike later representations of the story, the German Renaissance master Albrecht Altdorfer does not show the moment Susanna, the lovely wife of a rich man named Joachim (Daniel 13), is surprised by the two Elders of Babylon.
What you see here is both before and after the event. On the left, the men are depicted lying under a tree, lusting for the great moment. On the right, they are being stoned for calumny on the palace terrace. At the center, the young woman is innocently enjoying her bath, attended by her serving maids. The palace is a fantastic masterpiece, revealing the artist’s imaginative grasp of representing architecture. Assimilating inspiration from Italian sources, Altdorfer was the first to use angular or two-point perspective in German art. A preliminary sketch is extant (in Düsseldorf) with some deviation in details. It was translated to the panel with the help of a quadrature, a perspective scheme. The diverse plant life emphasizes the moral of the story. The mullein in the foreground next to the staircase points to Susanna's fearless stand against evil, and the nettle bush next to it to the men's unchaste desires.
We present today's work thanks to the Alte Pinakothek Munich.
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