LUCAS CRANACH THE ELDER (C.1472-1553)
Lucretia
1530RCIN 400050
Cranach was court artist to the dukes of Saxony in Wittenberg where he developed a highly successful workshop. He often depicted Lucretia, the paragon of Roman virtue, who was blackmailed and raped by Sextus Tarquinius. Shamed by her loss of honour, she informed her father and husband before stabbing herself. Here she is shown contemplating suicide, but the dagger has not drawn blood.