Collections Database

Description:
nude young woman with crossed arms leaning on a pedestal; behind her two older leering men

Label Text:
Label text for ARH 240 French and Italian Drawings Renaissance through Romanticism, written by Maggie Hoot, class of 2016:

Although Achille Devéria’s work does not fall into one specific artistic category, this drawing contains aspects of both Delacroix’s Romantic narratives and Ingres’s Neoclassical nudes, thus uniting two artistic opponents. This scene from the Book of Daniel concerns the blackmailing of a Hebrew wife, Susannah, by two lecherous elders who encounter her bathing, insisting they would claim she had a secret lover if she did not give herself to them. Devéria focused on the unclothing of Susannah: in removing her wrap the elders are also pulling away her modesty and dignity, revealing her dilemma, which was whether to save her body or her soul.

Tags:
men; women; nudes; architecture; biblical

Subjects:
Men; nudes (representations); Architecture; Bible; Women; Graphite

Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=SC+1969.48

Research on objects in the collections, including provenance, is ongoing and may be incomplete. If you have additional information or would like to learn more about a particular object, please email fc-museums-web@fivecolleges.edu.