Susanna

The engraving shows Susanna semi-nude with hands clasped and eyes turned toward the heavens in a moment of spiritual petition. She sits beside a classical lion-headed fountain, while in the distant background, the two elders are visible among the garden architecture. The composition uses dramatic, swelling engraved lines to emphasize the form of the figure and the texture of the surrounding foliage and stone.

As a leading figure of the Haarlem Mannerists, Goltzius used biblical narratives to explore humanist and Neoplatonic themes; here, Susanna represents the pure soul (Anima) looking toward the divine light to escape the entrapment of material corruption. This work reflects the late 16th-century interest in the 'Idea' of beauty and virtue as pathways to spiritual truth.