Susanna, partly naked and stepping out of a fountain with two elders at left, one of them pulling at her garment, after Reni

Susanna, partly naked and stepping out of a fountain with two elders at left, one of them pulling at her garment, after Reni by Theodor van Kessel. The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1949

Created in 1660 during the Baroque period, this work belongs firmly within the daily life tradition. Theodor van Kessel worked at a moment when the rivalry between Catholic Baroque drama and Protestant restraint reshaped what a painting could mean. Every gesture, fabric, and gleam of light was decoded by contemporary viewers like a private language.

Executed in Etching, measuring Sheet (Trimmed): 6 5/8 in. × 9 in. (16.8 × 22.9 cm), the surface rewards close looking. Theodor van Kessel builds the composition through layered glazes and a tightly controlled palette, letting cool shadows recede so that the warm, lit passages step forward. The brushwork shifts from the precise to the almost dissolved — a hallmark of mature Baroque practice.

“A silence so complete it becomes its own witness.”