In the light of biblical exegesis and medieval literature, this paper proposes an iconographic analysis of the theme of "Bathsheba Bathing" as it appears in Books of Hours. From the fifteenth to the sixteenth century, pictorial representations of this Old Testament scene experienced a boom justified by the underlying eroticism of this episode in which David surprises Bathsheba as she is performing a ritual purification bath. The illuminations that we study reflect the encounter between the Christian tradition and humanistic culture
