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| Anonymous Italian Artist Tarquin and Lucretia early 16th century bronze plaquette National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
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| Riccio (Andrea Briosco) Brutus and Lucretia ca. 1500-1515 bronze plaquette Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| attributed to Galeazzo Mondella (called Moderno) after Riccio (Andrea Briosco) Brutus and Lucretia before 1528 bronze plaquette National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
from The Rape of Lucrece – (The Argument)
Lucius Tarquinius (for his excessive pride surnamed Superbus), after he had caused his own father-in-law, Servius Tullius, to be cruelly murdered, and, contrary to the Roman laws and customs, not requiring or staying for the people's suffrages, had possessed himself of the kingdom, went, accompanied with his sons and other noblemen of Rome, to besiege Ardea. During which siege the principal men of the army meeting one evening at the tent of Sextus Tarquinius, the king's son, in their discourses after supper, every one commended the virtues of his own wife; among whom Collatinus extolled the incomparable chastity of his wife Lucretia. In that pleasant humour they all posted to Rome; and intending, by their secret and sudden arrival, to make trial of that which every one had before avouched, only Collatinus finds his wife, though it were late at night, spinning amongst her maids: the other ladies were all found dancing and revelling, or in several disports. Whereupon the noblemen yielded Collatinus the victory, and his wife the fame. At that time Sextus Tarquinius being inflamed with Lucrece's beauty, yet smothering his passions for the present, departed with the rest back to the camp; from whence he shortly after privily withdrew himself, and was (according to his estate) royally entertained and lodged by Lucrece at Collatium. The same night he treacherously stealeth into her chamber, violently ravished her, and early in the morning speedeth away. Lucrece, in this lamentable plight, hastily dispatched messengers, one to Rome for her father, another to the camp for Collatine. They came, the one accompanied with Junius Brutus, the other with Publius Valerius; and finding Lucrece attired in mourning habit, demanded the cause of her sorrow. She, first taking an oath of them for her revenge, revealed the actor, and whole manner of his dealing, and withal suddenly stabbed herself. Which done, with one consent they all vowed to root out the whole hated family of the Tarquins; and bearing the dead body to Rome, Brutus acquainted the people with the doer and manner of the vile deed, with a bitter invective against the tyranny of the king; wherewith the people were so moved, that with one consent and a general acclamation the Tarquins were all exiled, and the state government changed from kings to consuls.
– William Shakespeare (1594)
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| Raphael Lucretia ca. 1508-10 drawing Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Marcantonio after Raphael Lucretia ca. 1520 engraving Harvard Art Museums |
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| Anonymous Italian Artist after Marcantonio after Raphael Lucretia ca. 1520 drawing British Museum |
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| Sandro Botticelli Story of Lucretia ca. 1500-1501 tempera on panel Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston |
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| Albrecht Dürer Death of Lucretia 1518 oil on panel Alte Pinakothek, Munich |
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| Francesco Francia Lucretia before 1517 oil on panel York Art Gallery (Yorkshire) |
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| Joos van Cleve Lucretia ca. 1520-25 oil on panel Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
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| Jacopo Francia Lucretia ca. 1510 engraving Art Institute of Chicago |
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| Lucas van Leyden Lucretia ca. 1515 engraving Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Anonymous Italian Artist after lost work by Parmigianino Lucretia 1520s drawing British Museum |
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| Raphael workshop Tarquin and Lucretia ca. 1520-23 drawing Royal Collection, Great Britain |
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| Agostino Veneziano after Raphael workshop Tarquin and Lucretia 1523 engraving Philadelphia Museum of Art |
from The Rape of Lucrece
As the grim lion fawneth o'er his prey
Sharp hunger by the conquest satisfied,
So o'er this sleeping soul doth Tarquin stay,
His rage of lust by gazing qualified;
Slacked, not suppressed; for, standing by her side,
His eye, which late this mutiny restrains,
Unto a greater uproar tempts his veins.
And they, like straggling slaves for pillage fighting,
Obdurate vassals fell exploits effecting,
In bloody death and ravishment delighting,
Nor children's tears nor mothers' groans respecting,
Swell in their pride, the onset still expecting.
Anon his beating heart, alarum striking,
Gives the hot charge and bids them do their liking.
– William Shakespeare (1594)