Bathsheba

Bathsheba is a standing female figure by Benjamin Victor, an American figurative sculptor best known for his monumental bronzes in the U.S. Capitol's National Statuary Hall. The work, shown here in clay, depicts the biblical Bathsheba at the moment just after her bath. Its date, size and whether it has been cast in bronze have not been confirmed.

What you are looking at

A young woman stands upright, weight on one leg, her long wavy hair falling over her shoulders. She wears a thin, wet garment that clings to her body and gathers in dense, rippling folds across her stomach and thighs, revealing the forms beneath. In her left hand she grips a long cloth or towel that hangs down to the ground and pools around her bare feet in heavy folds.

Her expression is calm but guarded. She looks slightly to one side rather than at the viewer, and her right arm hangs close to her body. The surface is modeled in warm, smooth clay against a dark background, and the effect of the wet drapery, a classic test of a sculptor's skill since antiquity, is the work's centerpiece.

The story of Bathsheba

In the Second Book of Samuel, King David sees Bathsheba bathing from the roof of his palace and sends for her. She becomes pregnant, and David arranges for her husband, the soldier Uriah the Hittite, to be killed in battle before marrying her. Their son Solomon later becomes king. Painters from Rembrandt onward have treated the scene, often casting Bathsheba as a temptress. Many modern readings stress instead that she had little power to refuse a king. Victor's figure, sensual yet hesitant, sits between those interpretations.

The sculptor

Benjamin Victor is unusual among living sculptors for having three works in National Statuary Hall in Washington: Sarah Winnemucca (2005), Norman Borlaug (2014) and Chief Standing Bear (2019). Alongside public commissions, he makes intimate figures from biblical and mythological subjects, such as Zuleikha.

Related works

For other images of biblical women, compare Eglon van der Neer's Judith and Fede Galizia's Judith with the Head of Holofernes. More at Benjamin Matthew Victor.