Lucretia (c. 1510): Artwork and History

Lucretia (c. 1510) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Jacopo Francia Italian, before 1486–1557.

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

Lucretia was a famous Roman aristocrat who killed herself around 510 B.C. after being raped by Sextus Tarquinius, the son of the king of Rome, the tyrannical Lucius Tarquinius Superbus. According to Roman folklore, Lucretia’s fate ignited the rebellion, led by her husband, that overthrew the monarchy and established the Roman Republic.

Object facts

• Title: Lucretia
• Date: c. 1510
• Artist attribution: Jacopo Francia Italian, before 1486–1557
• Place of origin: Italy
• Medium: Engraving in black on ivory laid paper
• Dimensions: Image: 25.7 × 17.7 cm (10 1/8 × 7 in.); Sheet: 26 × 18 cm (10 1/4 × 7 1/8 in.)
• Type: Print
• Department: Prints and Drawings
• Reference number: 1956.1008

Collection credit

Bequest of Mrs. Potter Palmer, Jr.

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The description above is credited to the Art Institute of Chicago and reused under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0; HTML formatting has been converted to plain text. Other catalogue metadata and the public-domain image are provided under CC0 1.0.