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Dear Advent 🎄ArtTalkers,

The biblical legend of Susanna has elements of a crime story🔍Two influential men spy on Susanna while she’s bathing. They try to force the young, married mother into sexual submission by threatening to expose her as an adulteress. Susanna refuses to give in. She is accused of adultery and brought to a legal tribunal. The prophet Daniel takes up her defense, demonstrates her innocence, and exposes the lies of the old men through his brilliant interrogation.

This story’s drama sparked ⚡ the imagination of many artists throughout the centuries. It was transformed visually through the ages too. From the early Christian catacomb images where Susanna is symbolized as a lamb between wolfs to the bare feet (!) footbath scenes of the middle ages to the celebrated nudity of the Baroque period and beyond.

The Wallraf exhibition is utterly original. It approaches the Susanna narrative in a new way and shows different perspectives using impressive artwork that spans the centuries lent by top-rate international collections. This visual “thread” makes rich 🪸 connections to important issues with social and legal relevance.

Here is an insight from one of our ArtTalkers Fritz:

“The exhibition shows that sexual abuse has been a theme throughout history. It is not only the Harvey Weinsteins of our Me-Too generation, it also is Hitchcock (I was surprised to read that) and many powerful men of all times who exploited their power positions.”

Here is the link to Museum Wallraf-Richartz’s website with more information.

Won’t you join us 😊to look, think and engage with great art?

Wishing you all a restorative and peaceful holiday 💫season!

Artful best wishes,

Karla