One of Ruben’s favourite motifs was the story of Susanna in Babylon and the elders who sneaked up on her as she bathed. Abhorred, she resists their advances, but instead they accuse her of adultery. The prophet Daniel proves her innocence. While Susanna’s virtue emerged as an ideal, the motif gave the artist a pretext to show the shiny skin of the naked woman, modelled with thin, translucent layers of pink and grey.