Susannah and the Elders Statue

Susannah refuses to be blackmailed and so the Elders tell her husband she has been unfaithful.As was the practice at the time Susannah was sentenced to death

However, the biblical hero Daniel steps in and asks to question the Elders thoroughly. So separately they are questioned and its clear their stories of how Susannah met her supposed lover are different. They therefore are proved to be lying and Susannah was saved and instead the Elders are put to death.

The story of Susannah and the Elders has been a source of inspiration for artists for centuries and the moment of Susannah being interrupted while she bathes is the most depicted part of the story. Lombardi has captured Susannah in this very vulnerable pose and was a master of the precise detail he carved into every sculpture.

Giovanni Battista Lombardi

Giovanni Battista Lombardi was born in Brescia, Italy in 1823 and spent his apprenticeship in his father’s stone quarry. By the 1850’s Lombardi moved to Rome to study under some of the best sculptors of the time and produced many classical pieces that where popular at the time. He later established his own studio in Rome and produced sculptures for Italian royalty and aristocrats.

Today his sculptures can be found in some of the best know museums and art gallery’s all over the world, including three here in the Tees Valley. Susannah and the Elders and Innocence are on display in Hartlepool Art Gallery and The Pharaohs Daughter stands at the entrance of the maternity wing at Darlington Memorial Hospital where it has stood watch over the towns children for over 100 years.