(Leuven circa 1505–1559)
Susanna and the Elders,
signed with a monogram lower right: IRO and dated 1543,
oil on panel, 105 x 134.5 cm, framed

We are grateful to Jan de Maere for confirming the attribution of the present painting to Jan Rombouts II.

The present composition, dominated by the nude female figure of Susannah, her body turned contrapposto and characterized by the mannered gestures with which she covers herself, is an important addition the oeuvre of Jan Rombouts. Leuven’s foremost Romanist painter of the first half of the sixteenth century, Rombouts skillfully here incorporates Italianate architectural elements after the antique – the sphinxes and urn-bearing river god detailing of the fountain in the foreground to the right and the statues in apses, along with the herms supporting the hedge in the background. The muscled back and vigorous mane of the elder to the left, who enumerates on his hands the reasons why Susannah should consent to adultery, is an innovative interpretation of the figure described in the Chapter XIII of the Book of Daniel. Coupled with the dynamic drapery and outstretching fingers of the elder to the right, the composition is imbued with a persuasive erotic charge, amplified by the mannerist contrast of the light, marmoreal flesh of Susannah with the ruddy countenances of the men on either side of her. Lying on the plinth, her discarded rings, presumably from her wealthy husband Joachim, and necklace of pearls, a symbol of purity along with the impastos of the drawn-back veil upon Susannah’s hair add both to the work’s decorum and her air of refined modesty.

Rombouts’s complex and colourful compositions were inspired by the Italianizing schools of Flemish painters in Antwerp and Liege. Rombouts trained in the workshop of his father, Jan Rombouts the Elder, who was Dean of the city administration from 1519-1535. His brilliant palette may owe something to his and his father’s practice as glass painters.