01 Work, RELIGIOUS ART - Pierre-André Brouillet's Suzanne (Susannah and the Elders), With Footnotes - #132

Pierre-André Brouillet, French, 1857 - 1914

Suzanne (Susannah and the Elders), c. 1890

Oil on canvas

33⅜ by 51¼ in.; 97.5 by 130.1 cm

Private collection

Sold for USD 96,000 in Oct 2005

In this painting, Brouillet restages the Old Testament narrative of Susannah and the Elders at the Moulin Rouge and populates the scene with contemporary characters. Unlike the biblical Susannah, besieged by two leering older men while bathing outdoors, this stylishly attired and self-possessed Suzanne is propositioned by two elegantly dressed gentlemen in the midst of a bustling bar. In this modern iteration, Suzanne appears to wield the power, unlike her Old Testament counterpart. The popular Parisian café-concert is bustling with activity: one dancer, to Suzanne’s right, lifts her leg up toward a man’s top hat, an acrobatic trick reminiscent of the famous can-can performed by the Moulin Rouge’s dancers. More on this painting

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

Pierre Aristide André Brouillet (1 September 1857 – 6 December 1914) was a French academic painter specialising in genre painting, portraits and landscapes.

Brouillet began engineering studies at the École centrale Paris in 1876 before entering the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts three years later, where he was a student of Jean-Léon Gérôme. In the year of his reception at the Salon de peinture et de sculpture in 1879, he attended Jean-Paul Laurens' lessons.

During his career, he received numerous exhibition awards and numerous public commissions.

Influenced by his master Jean-Léon Gérôme, Brouillet devoted himself to orientalist painting, thanks to his discovery of his wife, Emma Isaac, native country, daughter of a rich Constantine merchant.

Brouillet visited Greece twice, first in 1901 for a state commission and then in 1903 to paint the portrait of the Queen Olga of Greece, in 1901. In 1904, the newspaper Fémina consecrated him as the "peintre de la femme". In 1906, he was made an officier of the Légion d'honneur] at the same time as he received the gold medal at the Salon where he presented his great composition for the Sorbonne Les étudiants acclament Edgar Quinet et Edmond Michelet le 6 mars 1848 lorsqu'ils reprennent possession de leur chaire.

He left on an icy road to rescue a convoy of Belgian refugees on 6 December 1914, became congested and died a few hours later. His funeral was held in Couhé-Vérac. More on Pierre Aristide André Brouillet 

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