Offered by Galerie William Diximus
Oil on canvas (original canvas) signed "Colin" for Alexandre Marie Colin (1798-1875) and dated 1866.
The painting was surely exhibited at the 1866 Salon (old label).
The scene depicted is Suzanne in the bath or Suzanne and the Vieillards (or Suzanne and the two old men) is a biblical episode telling the story of a young woman, Suzanne who, observed while she takes a bath, refuses the proposals dishonest two old men. In revenge, they accuse her of adultery and have her sentenced to death, but the prophet Daniel, still a teenager, intervenes and proves his innocence. He has the old men condemned.
Suzanne, who is represented here in the guise of a Venus inspired by Raphael and Parmesan, enters the Bath under the watchful eye of the two men hidden in the background. At the bottom right of the painting, different attributes refer to sensuality and fertility (fountain, amphora, fan).
Alexandre COLIN is a pupil of Girodet-Trioson in 1814 at the Beaux-Arts, he exhibited at the show from 1819 to 1872. Very linked to Bonington and Delacroix, Colin shows in his romantic scenes a power and a nervousness of touch that closely matches him to the author of the Massacres de Scio.
(The personal auction record for the artist is 593 000 €)
We find it in museums such as The Louvre Paris, The National Museum Eugène Delacroix Paris, in the Senate - Palace of Luxembourg, Museum of Art and History Baron-Gérard (MAHB) Bayeux etc.
Dimensions without frame: Length 100 cm Height: 131 cm
Dimensions with frame: Length 110 cm Height: 141 cm
