Paolo Veronese: The Virtues of Lucretia and Susanna

Paolo Veronese was the first great master to depict the expressed virtues of the accused women in his paintings.

A detail of "Lucretia," circa 1580–1583, by Paolo Veronese. Public Domain

No two women of pre-Christian antiquity have been as celebrated for their beauty and chastity as the Hebrew Susanna and the Roman Lucretia. Both women are famous for their responses to being forced to choose between adultery and death.

For millennia, the women have been depicted in art. But there is a paradox: Artists rarely emphasized the women’s moral qualities until Paolo Veronese (1528–1588). While some artists took visual liberties with the narrative, Veronese chose to depict the women as the stories intended—virtuous women falsely accused of adultery.

Self-portrait of the artist, 1558–1563, by Paolo Veronese. Oil on canvas. Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia. Public Domain

The Stories of Susanna and Lucretia

According to Daniel 13 in the Knox Bible, translated from the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, a pair of respected judges threatened to falsely swear that they saw Susanna committing adultery—guaranteeing a death sentence—unless she committed adultery with them. She refused and was put on trial and condemned. Before she was taken away to be stoned, the prophet Daniel demanded that her accusers be cross-examined. Thanks to discrepancies in their accounts, the elder judges were proven guilty of perjury and executed.

Lucretia’s story is most famously told in Book 1, Chapter 58 of Livy’s “History of Rome.” Sextus Tarquin, son of a domineering Roman king in the fifth century B.C., successfully blackmailed Lucretia into adultery. He offered Lucretia two choices: Accept his advances or he would kill her and her male servant as punishment for “catching them committing adultery.” She chose the former.

The following day Lucretia repented to her father, husband, and two witnesses. She said, “The body only has been violated, the mind is guiltless; death shall be my witness.” Then Lucretia committed suicide. Her death was the catalyst for her family and other Roman nobles to overthrow Tarquin. He was forced to flee and was killed soon after.

Common Artistic Interpretations

Artistic depictions of Susanna and Lucretia tend to show them nude or partly nude and to focus on the scene in which they were first threatened by their pursuers.

Since Susanna was singled out while she bathed in her private garden, many of her painted representations can only be differentiated from generic nudes or paintings of Venus by the title and subtle clues. Other narrative paintings can be distinguished by the inclusion of the judges in the canvas’s periphery. Three out of four depictions of Susanna by Tintoretto—including two that were painted only decades before Veronese’s—fall into these categories.

More commonly, the judges play an important narrative role in the painter’s composition—but they are secondary to Susanna’s nudity. By Veronese’s day, the latter was already an artistic convention. Tintoretto, Alessandro Allori (an associate of Giorgio Vasari), Lorenzo Lotto, and Jan Matsys all painted such scenes before Veronese.

Lucretia is typically depicted semi-nude moments before she commits suicide. She is usually shown holding a dagger—often pointed toward her own torso—which makes the narrative of coming suicide obvious. But ancient accounts have her committing suicide in the presence of her family, making it likely that she was fully dressed when doing so. Sometimes the nudity symbolically stresses that she was violated. At times it suggests a parallel between her physical beauty and moral goodness, as in a work by Ambrosius Benson. For the most part, though, it merely reduces the narrative aspect of her story to a secondary role.

Artists have occasionally depicted Lucretia in a scenario similar to Susanna’s, but with Tarquin surprising her in her bedroom. While ancient sources say nothing about her attire at that time, nudity can help convey the story.

Veronese’s Compositions

Veronese was the first great master to paint Lucretia and Susanna in ways that focused on the virtues that made them prominent in the Western world’s moral imagination. To some extent, Veronese’s “Lucretia” may have been influenced by a circa 1515 painting commonly thought to be an early work of Titian. Each portrays Lucretia more or less fully covered in a mix of green and white, and with blonde hair.

The earlier work remains focused on physical beauty, although more modestly. Lucretia’s eyes gaze upward with a look that could be curious, and her semi-transparent clothing indicates her physical shape. The dagger is angled slightly away from her.

"Tarquin and Lucretia," circa 1515, by Titian. Oil on panel; 32 3/5 inches by 26 3/4 inches. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Public Domain

Despite its similarities to the earlier work, Veronese’s version reversed much of that painting. His Lucretia looks to the ground in shame and repentance—perhaps even self-loathing. Not only is she more covered, but she is also pulling up a cloak to cover herself more fully. The tip of her dagger is up against her chest—and might well have begun to penetrate it. In addition to killing her, it will pin the cloak against her to preserve her modesty even in death. Beautiful as she may be, the focus is on her act of suicide and the moral qualities that led her to take her own life.

"Lucretia," circa 1580–1583, by Paolo Veronese. Oil on canvas; 43 inches by 35 4/5 inches. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Public Domain

Veronese’s depiction of Susanna displays a similar modesty. While Veronese shows more of her body than he showed of Lucretia’s, he depicts her covering herself as rapidly as possible when the judges confront her. But her personality is different. Seen close up, her facial expression mixes incredulity and confusion with defiance—as though she considers their proposal too absurd to be credible.

"Susanna and the Elders," circa 1580, by Paolo Veronese. Oil on canvas; 59 2/5 inches by 69 3/5 inches. Prado National Museum, Madrid. Public Domain

Both documented stories emphasize the repercussions of lust, highlighting the unchecked corruption and abuse of power by men of authority. Focusing on the women’s stories and their moral compass, Veronese inspired later generations of artists. Post-Renaissance masters such as Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck, and Artemisia Gentileschi maintained the dominance of Veronese’s tradition.

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