Artemisia Gentileschi’s ‘Susanna and the Elders’ at the Queen’s House

On display in the King's Presence Chamber in the Queen's House is a rediscovered artwork by Artemisia Gentileschi, on loan to Royal Museums Greenwich from the Royal Collection.

In 2023, Royal Collection Trust announced the rediscovery of a painting of Susanna and the Elders by Artemisia Gentileschi, following years of painstaking archival and conservation-based research. Recorded as hanging in Queen Henrietta Maria’s Withdrawing Chamber at Whitehall Palace in the late 1630s, it was almost certainly commissioned from Artemisia by the queen herself. 

With her Whitehall Withdrawing Chamber now lost, the painting has recently been installed, thanks to a generous loan from the Royal Collection, in what was Henrietta Maria’s Withdrawing Chamber at the Queen’s House in Greenwich. This was the last surviving residence created specifically for Henrietta Maria. 

Artemisia would have known the Queen's House well, having probably assisted her father, Orazio Gentileschi, in completing the ceiling canvases which originally adorned the Great Hall. 

Join art historian Niko Munz from Christ Church, Oxford, and conservator Adelaide Izat from the Royal Collection – whose combined research led to the rediscovery of the painting – together with curator Allison Goudie from Royal Museums Greenwich, to learn more about the painting. The team will also discuss why the Queen’s House is such a fitting setting in which to see it. 

This talk is part of a series of events taking place in the Queen's House for the Association for Art History's Art History Festival. The annual celebration sees museums, galleries and cultural venues across the UK host free talks, tours and workshops, to showcase the richness of art history.