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Giuseppe Maria Crespi (artist) Italian, 1665 - 1747 Tarquin and Lucretia, c. 1695/1700 oil on canvas Overall: 195 x 171.5 cm (76 3/4 x 67 1/2 in.) framed: 222.9 x 201.9 x 14.3 cm (87 3/4 x 79 1/2 x 5 5/8 in.) Samuel H. Kress Collection 1952.5.30 On View |
An historical tale told by Livy, Ovid, and even Shakespeare is the rape of Lucretia. Sextus Tarquinius, son of the Etruscan King of Rome, forced the Roman matron to submit to his advances by threatening to kill her and, then, to make it seem that she had been caught in adultery. Afterward, Lucretia told her family of this outrage and took her own life. Her family avenged her honor by overthrowing the tyrannical king, an act which led to the establishment of the Roman republic. Lucretia, as an exemplar of feminine virtue and Roman stoicism, was a favorite subject for baroque painters who reveled in depicting the extreme passion and violence of the story.
If Crespi's subject is classical, his style is decidedly not. He shows Sextus Tarquinius as he rushes in and forces himself on Lucretia, in his haste entangling himself in the rustling silk curtains of Lucretia's bed. The rough-looking villain has dropped his dagger and now remonstrates with Lucretia to cease her futile protest. Crespi's brush moved with great speed, and he made dramatic use of light, contrasting the luminous face of virtuous Lucretia with the sinister, shadowed profile of her attacker. Even the carved horse of Lucretia's bed comes alive, stirred by the violent episode.