04.21.2016-09.30.2016
From Leiden to Delft
a journey into the 17th century
The painting represents the biblical story of how King David, while walking on the roof of his palace, caught sight of the beautiful Bathsheba, who was then the wife of Uriah, having a bath. He immediately desired her, and later made her pregnant.
Executed in van der Werff’s characteristically smooth painting technique, this story is beautifully depicted here with the near naked Bathsheba combing her long hair, her smooth skin spotlight by a light source emanating from the left, its whiteness set off by her rich red robe and the dark foliage around her.
In the background, the figure of King David can be seeing contemplating her from high up on his roof top.
We can notice a striking similarity of the present painting to Gerrit Dou’s (1613-1675) Nude Woman Combing her Hair in the Hermitage, St-Petersburg, which is itself highly likely to derive from Rembrandt’s (1606-1669) Susanna (The Maurishuis, The Hague).