Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Innocence of Susanna
Valentin de Boulogne French
Not on view
Accused by two would-be rapists of having had an illicit affair, the beautiful Susanna is brought before the young Daniel to be judged. He trips up the accusers with his questions. Valentin makes us witnesses of the turn of events leading to Susanna’s vindication. She is accompanied by her two bewildered children. Valentin again shows his independence by choosing this psychologically complex subject rather than the popular, erotically charged one of the two lechers propositioning her while she bathed.
The picture belonged to the German collector Everhard Jabach, who sold it to Louis XIV; it decorated the paintings cabinet at Versailles.
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