Tarquin and Lucretia (1515 painting)
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Tarquin and Lucretia is an oil painting attributed to Titian, dated to around 1515 and now held at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. The attribution to this artist is traditional but uncertain - the brightened palette suggests it could instead be by Palma il Vecchio. However, most identify the painting as part of Titian's series of half-length female figures from 1514 to 1515, which also includes the Flora at the Uffizi, the Woman with a Mirror at the Louvre, the Violante and the Young woman in a black dress in Vienna, Vanity in Munich and the Salome at the Galleria Doria Pamphilj.
It may be the painting mentioned by Ridolfi in 1648 as being in the gallery of Charles I of England, whose Italian paintings mainly came from his purchase of the Gonzaga collection in Mantua. From there, it passed to the collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria.
It shows Lucretia committing suicide to wash away the shame at her rape by Tarquinius Superbus, making her the model of female virtus. Her face looks up to the divine illumination coming from above, giving her the strength to commit the act. As in other treatments of the subject, there are sensual elements, such as Lucretia's falling robe and almost-bared breast. The robe's green is particularly bright, witnessing to the high quality of pigments available in Venice.
