# Bathsheba at her Bath [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [RICCI, Sebastiano]() - Date: 1701-1750 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 119 x 199 cm ## Commentary Bathsheba at her Bath c. 1724 Oil on canvas, 119 x 199 cm Szépmûvészeti Múzeum, Budapest The composition of this painting is similar to that of another painting of the same subject by Sebastiano Ricci, now in the Staatliche Museen, Berlin. Both painting follow the scheme used for representing the toilette of Venus. Bathsheba is identified only by the barely visible spying figure in the Budapest painting and by the figure of a maid approaching with a letter from King David. Apparently Ricci liked to use buildings with columns to close up the background, no doubt inspired by Veronese. Slender columns, light, almost floating balconies provide a picturesquely decorative framework for the figures grouped on the stage in front. The whole scene is pervaded by a shimmering silvery light; shadow and dimness have vanished completely; the painter applies light and colour for modelling. The colouring, with its nacreous lustre, is particularly attractive; the hues are delicately shaded, enhancing the interplay of form and content. ## Related artworks - [Allegory of Marcantonio Colonna's Victory at Lepanto]() - [Altar of St Gregory the Great]() - [Amor Virtutis Casts Ignorantia down into Orcus]() - [Angel of the Annunciation]() - [Apotheosis of Hercules]() - [Bacchanal in Honour of Pan]() - [Bacchanal in Honour of Pan]() - [Bacchus and Ariadne]() - [Bathsheba]() - [Battle of the Romans and the Sabines \(detail\)]() - [Battle of the Romans and the Sabines]() - [Cardinal Virtue]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()