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Bathsheba at her Toilet  1594

by Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem

The beautiful Bathsheba was bathing in the open air. King David spied her from the roof of his palace and instantly fell in love. Here, curiously, the painter did not depict David, but merely suggested his presence by means of the castle in the distance. Because Bathsheba’s maidservant is black, the subtly erotic painting takes on an exotic tinge.
Credit: 
Courtesy of Rijksmuseum