Female perspective This particular story was used as an opportunity by Artemisia’s contemporaries to often paint female nudes in a sexualising and objectifying manner.
Instead, Artemisia painted this image from her own female perspective. Susanna is depicted as a woman who is protecting her body against the evil intentions of the elders; a woman with emotions. As far as is known, Artemisia painted this picture no less than three times.
Modern representations depict Susanna as either alone, unaware of being watched, or uncomfortable with it. By the mid 19th century, portrayals often did not include the elders, and the only spectator was the viewer of the painting.
In early 1611, Gentileschi was raped by Agostino Tassi, whom her father, Orazio Gentileschi, had hired to teach Artemisia, and a second man, Cosimo Quorli. During the trial she testified that Tassi and Quorli pressured her for sex, accusing her of already having had sex with a servant, a further similarity to Susanna's story.