Bathsheba (Memling)

Bathsheba (or The Toilet of Bathsheba After the Bath) are names given to a c 1480[1] oil on wood panel painting by the Early Netherlandish artist Hans Memling, now in the Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart. Its unusually close framing and the fact that many of the details are cut off suggests that it is a fragment of a larger, probably religious, panel or triptych that was broken up.[2] The painting is noted for being a rare 15th century depiction of a nude person in Northern Renaissance art; such figures typically only appeared in representations of the Last Judgement, and were hardly as deliberately erotic. Memling is attributed one other secular nude portrait, in the center panel of his c. 1485 Vanitas allegory Triptych of Earthly Vanity and Divine Salvation, at the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Strasbourg.[3] As opposed to Bathsheba, that nude is fully exposed, with visible genitalia.

Woman at Her Toilet, early 16th-century copy by an unknown Netherlandish artist, 27.2 x 16.3 cm. Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, MA.

Bathsheba, c 1480, 191.5 × 84.5 cm (75.4 × 33.3 in). Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart

It shows Bathsheba, wife of Uriah the Hittite and later of David, assisted by her maid as she rises from her indoor bath. Bathsheba is naked save a robe which the maid is about to wrap but hasn't quite wrapped around her. The women are indoors but before an open window which leads out to a courtyard and skyscape. The bath from which Bathsheba emerges is pillared, with a roof of cushioned black velvet. There is a small white dog by her right foot. In the background, King David and a boy can be seen standing on the balcony high above.

The maid's facial type, demeanour and clothing bear the strong influence of Rogier van der Weyden's depictions of the Virgin Mary. The figure of Bathsheba has been compared to that in Jan van Eyck's now lost Woman Bathing, although that painting is more allegorical than narrative.[3]

Notes

earlier dated c 1484-5
Exum, 33
Ridderbos et al., 71

Sources

Exum, Cheryl. Cultural Representations of Biblical Women. ISBN 978-0-567-23429-2
Panofsky, Erwin. Early Netherlandish Painting. London: Harper Collins, 1953. ISBN 978-0-06-430002-5
Ridderbos, Bernhard; Van Buren, Anne; Van Veen, Henk. Early Netherlandish Paintings: Rediscovery, Reception and Research. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-89236-816-0
De Vos, Dirk. Hans Memling: The Complete Works. Ghent: Harry N Abrams, 1994. ISBN 978-0-8109-3649-2

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[1] rlier dated c 1484-5

[2] Exum, 33

[r71-3] Ridderbos et al., 71

Hans Memling
Individual religious panels	Virgin and Child Enthroned with two Musical Angels, c. 1467 Scenes from the Passion of Christ, c. 1470 Adoration of the Magi, c. 1471 Mater Dolorosa, c. 1475 Allegory with a Virgin, c. 1479–1480 Advent and Triumph of Christ, c. 1480 Mater Dolorosa, c. 1480 Mystic Marriage of St Catherine, c. 1480 Angel Musicians, 1480s Annunciation, c. 1482 Christ Surrounded by Musician Angels, c. 1480s Adam and Eve, c. 1485 Bathsheba, c. 1485
Polyptychs	Last Judgment, c. 1467–1471 Diptych of an elderly couple, c. 1470–1472 Diptych of Jean de Cellier, c. 1475 St John Altarpiece, 1479 Donne Triptych, c. 1480 Moreel Triptych, 1484 Earthly Vanity and Divine Salvation, c. 1485 Diptych of Maarten van Nieuwenhove, 1487 St. Ursula Shrine, c. 1489
Portraits	Portrait of a Man, c. 1470–1472 Portrait of Tommaso Portinari, c. 1470–1472 Portrait of Maria Portinari, c. 1470–1472 Portrait of an Elderly Man, c. 1470–1475 Portrait of an Elderly Woman, c. 1470–1475 Portrait of a Man with a Pink Carnation, 1475 Portrait of Benedetto Portinari, 1478 Portrait of Willem Morell, c. 1480 Portrait of a Man with a Roman Medal, c. 1480 Portrait of Barbara van Vlaendenbergh, c. 1480 Sibylla Sambetha, c. 1480