Focus on Bathsheba at her Bath (Veronese) and explore the Composition.
The painting depicts a biblical scene. It is generally agreed that the episode depicted is 2 Samuel 11, in which Bathsheba is seen by King David from the terrace of his palace while she bathes in the evening. Some sources have identified a different biblical story, namely Susannah and the Elders, as the painting's subject. In this story, Susannah bathes on a hot day and is watched by two old men (the characters in the arcades in the background) whose sexual demands Susannah refuses and who avenge themselves by unjustly accusing her of adultery.
In this painting, one of his many masterpieces, Veronese vertically divided the space into two separate parts linked by agreements in the colors and a powerful chiaroscuro. The old man wears the cloak of gold buttons which is characteristic of the Doges of Venice. The arms represented on the pitcher may reflect the celebration of a marriage or an alliance between two powerful Venetian families.
Susanna Susannah and the Elders Veronese David King David chiaroscuro Bathsheba Venice