Luigi Conconi (Italian, 1852-1917) La casta Susanna (The chaste Susanna) Oil on canvas 16-1/2 x 22-3/4 inches (41.9 x 57.8 cm) Inscribed verso: Quest opera e / di Luigi Conconi / in fede / Raffaello Giolli PROVENANCE: Galleria Pesaro, Milan; Interart Cultural Exchange, New York; Acquired from the above, January 24, 1994. EXHIBITED: Galleria Pesaro, Milan, "Luigi Conconi," December 1920, no. 20; The Gilgore Collection, Naples, Florida, "The Winds of Change, The Milanese Avant-Garde 1860-1900," 2003, no. 47. LITERATURE: G. Ginex, "Luigi Conconi. Works in the Gilgore Collection," The Gilgore Collection, Winds of Change, The Milanese Avant Garde 1860-1908, exh. cat., Naples, Florida, 2003, pp. 125-6; The Gilgore Collection, Winds of Change, The Milanese Avant Garde 1860-1908, exh. cat., Naples, Florida, 2003, p. 141, no. 47, illustrated. La casta Susanna is a reinterpretation of Luigi Conconi's 1892 illustrations for a French edition of Daphnis et Chloé, the 2nd-century AD Greek pastoral popular in Symbolist circles. In the present work and related compositions, the bathing figure of Daphnis is transferred to the biblical Susanna, placed at the center of the composition and spied upon by two elders. The dark mass of their looming heads both heightens the emotional intensity of the scene and directs attention to the illuminated figure of the bather (Ginex, pp. 125–6). In contrast with most representations of the subject in which the viewer assumes the vantage point of an omniscient and passive observer, Conconi's composition casts the viewer in the role of one of the voyeuristic elders. The work is inscribed on the verso: Quest opera e / di Luigi Conconi / in fede / Raffaello Giolli. (This work is by Luigi Conconi, attested in good faith by Raffaello Giolli, an early twentiethcentury Italian art critic associated with the Scapigliatura and Divisionist movements). HID12401132022 © 2026 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved www.HA.com/TexasAuctioneerLicenseNotice

Galleria Pesaro, Milan, "Luigi Conconi," December 1920, no. 20; The Gilgore Collection, Naples, Florida, "The Winds of Change, The Milanese Avant-Garde 1860-1900," 2003, no. 47.

Galleria Pesaro, Milan; Interart Cultural Exchange, New York; Acquired by the present owner from the above, January 24, 1994.

Stretcher bar creases visible. 3/4" abrasion lower left corner. Losses along extreme edges, masked by frame.
Under UV: varnish fluoresces green. Scattered inpainting along edges, with some inpainting in foreground figures.
Framed Dimensions 26.75 X 33.25 Inches