Susanna in the Bath and the Stoning of the Elder - Altdorfer

In the left foreground Susanna is having her maids comb her hair and worm her feet in front of her garden fountain. Completely to the left, between the trees, the elders spy on her. Behind, Susanna stands before the closed garden gate. Her servants are gone, and she finds herself alone. But this is not the attempted rape Altdorfer has depicted. Instead, he paints breadcrumbs on the stone garden table and, next to them, a man's clothes on a sort of metal railing. These elements do not correspond to any moment in the narrative; they represent the discourse of the old men, their false accusation: something has been consumed (the crumbs) with a man (the clothes) in the garden. In Susanna's husband's palace, Altdorfer depicted the trial (see detail at right) and the stoning of the elders (on the forecourt). Daniel, depicted as a blond child dressed in black, climbs onto a pidestal and questions the two elders. They are then seen as two stains.

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