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Tarquin and Lucretia

A light-skinned nude woman, center, struggles while a light-skinned nude man, top left, violently pulls white translucent fabric off of her. Dark red and brown textiles, a pillow, dagger, and fallen nude statue complete the scene.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A light-skinned nude woman, center, struggles while a light-skinned nude man, top left, violently pulls white translucent fabric off of her. Dark red and brown textiles, a pillow, dagger, and fallen nude statue complete the scene.

Date:

1578–80

Artist:

Tintoretto (Jacopo Robusti; Italian, 1518-1594)

About this artwork

According to Roman history, the rape of the virtuous matron Lucretia by Tarquin, son of the king of Rome, incited the people to overthrow the monarchy and establish a republic around 510 BCE. Lucretia was hailed as a hero for subsequently committing suicide in an attempt to avoid any perceived dishonor to her family. With his characteristic expressive distortions of anatomy and space and vibrant treatment of light, Tintoretto depicted one of the most violent moments of the story. As Tarquin and Lucretia struggle, a pillow flies through the air, her pearl necklace breaks apart, and the fabric and carved post of the bed’s canopy collapses around them.

Status

On View, Gallery 206

Department

Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Artist

Tintoretto

Title

Tarquin and Lucretia

Place

Italy (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1578–1580

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

175 × 151.5 cm (68 7/8 × 59 5/8 in.); Framed: 203.9 × 181 × 8.3 cm (80 1/4 × 71 1/4 × 3 1/4 in.)

Credit Line

Art Institute Purchase Fund

Reference Number

1949.203

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/64920/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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