University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Graduate School
Doi
Abstract
In a 200-year period roughly corresponding to the early and late Renaissance in Italy from 1450-1650, paintings of the stories of Susanna and the Elders, Diana and Actaeon, and David and Bathsheba, were popular across artistic expression. This thesis examines the work of Venetian Renaissance painter, Paolo Caliari, known as Veronese, by comparing his depictions of these three subjects with established artistic iconography. Through this context it can be argued that he has used the themes of the vulnerable woman, the gaze of males, and the bath, in order to challenge early modern judgement of Susanna, Diana, and Bathsheba. By embracing ambiguity and ambivalence in his paintings, Veronese has highlighted the deliberate role and responsibility of the male characters, thus absolving the women of culpability in the disastrous consequences following the moments that he has painted. In interrogating these images, this thesis seeks to advance a more nuanced understanding of Veronese’s oeuvre.Master of Art