Lovis Corinth, (1858–1925)
Susanna and the Elders, c. 1923
Oil on canvas
150,5 x 111 cm
Lower Saxony State Museum
A fair Hebrew wife named Susanna was falsely accused by lecherous
voyeurs. As she bathes in her garden, having sent her attendants away, two
lustful elders secretly observe the lovely Susanna. When she makes her way back
to her house, they accost her, threatening to claim that she was meeting a
young man in the garden unless she agrees to have sex with them.
She refuses to be blackmailed and is arrested and about to
be put to death for promiscuity when a young man named Daniel interrupts the
proceedings, shouting that the elders should be questioned to prevent the death
of an innocent. After being separated, the two men are questioned about details
of what they saw, but disagree about the tree under which Susanna supposedly
met her lover. In the Greek text, the names of the trees cited by the elders
form puns with the sentence given by Daniel. The first says they were under a
mastic, and Daniel says that an angel stands ready to cuthim in two. The second
says they were under an evergreen oak tree, and Daniel says that an angel
stands ready to saw him in two. The great difference in size between a mastic
and an oak makes the elders' lie plain to all the observers. The false accusers
are put to death, and virtue triumphs. More about
Susanna
Lovis Corinth (21 July 1858 – 17 July 1925) was
a German artist and writer whose mature work as a painter and printmaker
realized a synthesis of impressionism and expressionism.
Corinth studied in Paris and Munich, joined the
Berlin Secession group, later succeeding Max Liebermann as the group's
president. His early work was naturalistic in approach. Corinth was initially
antagonistic towards the expressionist movement, but after a stroke in 1911 his
style loosened and took on many expressionistic qualities. His use of color
became more vibrant, and he created portraits and landscapes of extraordinary
vitality and power. Corinth's subject matter also included nudes and biblical
scenes. More on Lovis Corinth
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