The Story of Lucretia (Botticelli)

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The Tragedy of Lucretia

Sandro Botticelli, 1496-1504

Oil on wood

83.8 × 176.8 cm

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

The Tragedy of Lucretia is a painting by the Italian Renaissance master Sandro Botticelli, painted between 1496 and 1504. It is housed in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum of Boston.

While her husband is away, the virtuous Lucretia is raped by Tarquinius, the king's son. On the right we see how she is found unconscious by her husband and his companions.

The soldier's revolt takes the centre stage, and the preceding episodes are grouped around it. In the centre of the picture Lucretia's corpse is on public display as a heroine. Above the dead woman, Brutus is calling on the army to take revenge. The soldiers are rushing up in front of the triumphal arch and the statue of David which is placed high on a column.

The use of architecture in this picture has been paralleled to that of the contemporary Filippino Lippi.

If one looks in the background of the painting, though, it appears to be 1500s France.