SusannaDomenico Robusti · 1580

A mostly nude young woman with pale skin leans, half-sitting, back on one hand while she reaches for a silver vessel held by a second woman in this vertical painting. The woman who offers the vessel also has light skin, and both have auburn-brown hair bound up and interwoven with strands of pearls. The body of the woman at the center of the painting, Susanna, faces us and she turns her head to our left, to look at the vessel with shaded, dark eyes. She has a straight nose, and her ruby-red, full lips are closed. A glint on one earlobe suggests a jeweled earring behind curls that frame her face and brush her shoulders. She has small, firm breasts and wears a bronze-colored bracelet on each wrist. Crimson-red cloth hangs from the backs of her shoulders and drapes over her seat. Sheer white fabric covers her lap across her upper thighs. The toes of one foot rest on the ground while the other foot dips into the water of a pool. The other woman, holding the round vessel, faces away from us as she leans into the painting so only her head, shoulders, and arms are visible. Her dark pink sleeve wraps around the upper arm we can see, and she wears a gold-colored bracelet on that wrist. A swath of brick-red fabric hangs between the two women. A dark, shadowy bush dotted with deep pink roses fills the space behind Susanna and, in the distance to our left, two people stand under an arched trellis covered with vines. Wearing light-colored robes and hoods, the people in the distance are painted with silvery gray and cream white, and are translucent against the sky.