As Jesus traveled throughout Galilee he was accompanied by “women which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, , out of whom went seven devils, And Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance” (Luke 8:1–3).
Treatments in the Baroque period were more likely to emphasize the point of view of Susanna, who is uncomfortable with or objects to being watched, while others continued to concentrate on the male gaze. In 17th-century portrayals, combining Susanna's rejection of the men's advances while gazing toward heaven became common, although in the biblical passage, she does not cast her eyes to heaven until after they have publicly accused her of adultery.
In the genre of the , the woman who is the subject of the painting often is aware of being looked at, either by others in the painting or by the spectator who is gazing at the painting in which she is the subject. Berger analyzes two of Tintoretto's paintings of Susanna. In the first, Susanna "looks back at us looking at her". In the second she is looking at herself in a mirror and thus joining the artist, the viewer, and the elders as a spectator of herself. Susanna's lack of distress and even nonchalance at being observed naked in both paintings and others as depicted by male artists has been contrasted to the clear distress shown in the depiction of the same scene by Artemisia Gentileschi, a female artist, whose Susanna shows she is clearly in distress at being watched by the two men.
The story was frequently painted from about 1470. Susanna is the subject of paintings by many artists, including (but not limited to) (, 1517), , , (), , , , and (, 1610). Some treatments, especially in the Baroque period, emphasize the drama, others concentrate on the nude; a 19th-century version by () has no elders visible at all. The Uruguayan painter Juan Manuel Blanes also painted two versions of the story, most notably one where the two voyeurs are not in sight, and Susanna looks to her right with a concerned expression on her face.
‘Susanna and the Others (After Gentileschi)’
