Susanna and Her Guns

2022

Oil on Masonite

50 x70 cm

I took inspiration from “Susanna and Her Elders” by Artemisia Gentileschi.

There were numerous battles during WW1 and WW2 in the Vicenza's foothills. In the basement of the "Taverna degli Alpini" in Bassano del Grappa there is a military shrine for the tens of thousands of Italian and Austrian soldiers who fell during the wars. The guns in the painting are from that museum. Guns that fought in a war. Guns that killed and perhaps guns that saved lives. Guns that have a tragic story. Those guns are coming toward and away from Susanna from the biblical story Susanna and her Elders.