Since 1975, the “male gaze” has operated as a standard concept for discussing gender and sight, but it needs to be updated and developed with more nuance. The Old Testament story of Susanna and the Elders – exemplified in Jacopo Tintoretto’s canvas in Vienna (1555-56) - is commonly read as a case of the voyeuristic male gaze, in subject and purpose, or as mere moralizing allegory. This lecture moves away from each reductive extreme by re-examining the story’s history and visual effect.