Susanna and her relatives praising the Lord

The great and very prolific 16th Century painter and print designer Maarten van Heemskerck treated episodes from the Old Testament book of Daniel on several occasions, most notably in two series illustrating the story of Susanna (Daniel 13) and that of Daniel refusing to worship Bel (Daniel 14; see Veldman, op. cit., nos. 217-224, 226-235, ill.). The present drawing relates to the final plate (fig. 1) of the former set, engraved by Philips Galle (as established in Sellink and Leesberg, op. cit.) and published by Hieronymus Cock. Although two of the prints from the series are dated 1563, all surviving related drawings are dated the year before: apart from the Kasper example, these are sheets in the Devonshire collection at Chatsworth (inv. 668, Susanna led away to her death), one formerly there but sold at Christie’s, London, 3 July 1984, lot 51 (Susanna accused by the elders; both published in M. Jaffé, The Devonshire Collection of Northern European Drawings, Turin, London and Venice, 2002, III, nos. 1454, 1455, ill.); and one now in a private collection (Daniel intervening on behalf of Susanna; see Hautekeete, op. cit., no. 11, ill.).

Fig. 1. Philips Galle, after Maarten van Heemskerck, Susanna and her relatives praising the Lord. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.