where the two voyeurs are not in sight, and Susanna looks to her right with a concerned expression on her face. In 1681 Alessandro Stradella wrote an oratorio in two parts La Susanna for Francesco II, Duke of Modena, based upon the story. In 1749, George Frideric Handel wrote an English-language oratorio Susanna. Susanna (and not Peter Quince) is the subject of the 1915 poem Peter Quince at the Clavier by Wallace Stevens, which has been set to music by the American composer Dominic Argento and by the Canadian Gerald Berg. American artist Thomas Hart Benton (1889–1975) painted a modern Susanna in 1938, now at the de Young Museum in San Francisco. He consciously included pubic hair, unlike the statue-like images of classical art. The fable was set during the Great Depression, and Benton included himself as one of the voyeurs. The Belgian writer Marnix Gijsen borrows elements of the story in his first novel Het boek van Joachim van Babylon, 1947. Pablo Picasso, too, rendered the subject in the mid-twentieth century, depicting Susanna much as he depicts his other less abstract reclining nudes. The elders are depicted as paintings hanging on the wall behind her. The picture, painted in 1955, is part of the permanent collection at the Museo Picasso Málaga. The American opera Susannah by Carlisle Floyd, which takes place in the American South of the 20th century, is also inspired by this story, with the addition of a traveling preacher who seduces Susannah. Shakespeare refers to this biblical episode in the trial scene of The Merchant of Venice, where first Shylock and then Gratiano praise Portia as being "A second Daniel" because of her sound judgments. Shakespeare is assumed to have named his eldest daughter after the biblical character. The story is also repeated in the One Thousand and One Nights under the name The Devout Woman and the Two Wicked Elders. See also Bathsheba, who was spied on by David while bathing Ninlil, spied on by Enlil Further reading References External links An illustrated story of Susanna and the Elders Jewish Encyclopedia: Susanna World Wide Study Bible: Susanna Daniel 13 in the New American Bible biblicalaudio Susanna (Daniel Chapter 13): 2013 Critical Translation with Audio Drama 2nd-century BC books 2nd-century books Book of Daniel people Women in the Old Testament apocrypha People in the deuterocanonical books Sexual harassment Additions to Daniel Mythological rape victims