SLOW THINKING

Teaching Critical Thinking

through Art with the
National Gallery of Art
NOUNS ADJECTIVES VERBS

LET’S MAKE A LIST OF

ALL THE NOUNS,
ADJECTIVES AND VERBS
WE SEE IN THIS IMAGE.
The story of Susanna and the Elders comes from the
13th passage of the book of Daniel. Susanna was
married to a very rich man named Joakim. One day,
when she was bathing in her garden, two elders were
secretly observing her with lust. On the way home, the
two men threatened to tell everyone Susanna was
having a secret affair with a young man unless she
agreed to have sex with them.
Susanna is then arrested and about to be put to death
for adultery when the young Daniel interrupts the
proceedings, claiming that the elders should be
questioned to prevent the death of an innocent. The two
are separated and asked to tell their versions of the
story. When recounting the story, one of them tells
Daniel he saw Susanna met with her lover under a
mastic tree and the other says they met under an oak
tree. The great difference in size between the trees
makes the elder’s lie plain to all the observers. They are
put to death and virtue triumphs.
SUSANNA AND THE
ELDERS (C. 1610) BY
ARTEMISIA
GENTILESCHI. Oil on
canvas. Schloss
Weißenstein
collection,
Pommersfelden,
Germany. Source
Wikimedia Commons
ARTEMISIA
GENTILESCHI. SELF-
POTRAIT AS NA
ALLEGORY OF
PAINTING
Artemisia Gentileschi was the daughter of a renowned
painter named Orazio. Due to the customs of her time,
she wasn’t allowed to train at an Academy and could
only practice art in a household studio. Orazio then hires
his friend Agostino Tassi to be her tutor and instead, he
rapes her. To ‘legitimize’ the assault Tassi promises to
marry her and they would be in a relationship for several
months until the day Orazio discovered Tassi was
married to another woman.
Artemisia takes the case to court and for 7 months she
is shamed, subjugated to a gynecological exam and
tortured to test the veracity of her testimony. Tassi is
convicted but free within a year.
Later on Artemisia marries another man and is able to
enroll at the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno (she is the
first woman to do so!). With the rise of feminism and the
#MeToo movement Artemisia is remembered as a
heroine who turned the horrors of her life into brutal,
sadly familiar paintings. It is said that Caravaggio greatly
admired her.