Susanna and the Elders (Pittoni)

Susanna and the Elders  (also known as Susanna e i Vecchioni) is a 18th-century portrait painted in oil by Giambattista Pittoni, made around 1720, during the Rococo in Venice, Italy, exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.Giovanni Battista Pittoni «Susanna and the Elders» (recto); Architectural design and other scribbles (verso), metmuseum.org

 Description 
It is a compositional drawing in black chalk that depicts the history of Old Testament of  Susanna, here portrayed on the right in nudity, surprised during the bath by two elderly people, whose figures are summarily portrayed.Giovanni Battista Pittoni artwork «Susanna and the Elders» Google art and culture, Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City

Interpretation
Pittoni initially sketched the general composition quickly and lightly, then elaborated the contours of the male figures with much greater hand pressure to give the tonal emphasis.
It is a work with the typical Rococo sensitivity of Pittoni, in which the composition seems to have been made for a painting, and seems to be closely related to the work of a sketch present in the Correr Civic Museum of Venice (inv. 4338) and in the Foundation Cini of Venice (inv. 30,252). The back of the work contains some accidental scribbles in black and red chalk (an upward motif seems to represent architectural forms), which do not seem to be the artist's. The annotation of the back in black plaster "79" is of an 18th century hand, while the annotation of the graphite verso "14 [?]. 39.8 / 1" is of a modern hand. (Carmen C. Bambach, 2005).

 References 

 Bibliography 
 F. Zava Boccazzi, Pittoni, Venezia 1979

Other websites
 Giovanni Battista Pittoni «Susanna and the Elders» (recto); Architectural design and other scribbles (verso), metmuseum.org

Category:1720s paintings
Category:Paintings by Giambattista Pittoni