Lucrezia Romana

Giampietrino is recorded in a manuscript by Leonardo de Vinci as “gian pietro,” one of the artists working in the master’s circle. Leonardo’s presence in Milan between 1482 and 1499 and again from 1508 to 1513 exerted strong influence over painters who were working in the north Italian city. Giampietrino’s works are characterized by carefully painted luminous figures derived from Leonardo’s models, especially his celebrated painting of Leda and the Swan, which, though destroyed in the seventeenth century, is known through copies. Note how the face and body of Lucretia are painted against the dark background with a smoke-like or sfumato effect blurring the contours, a novel painting technique that was introduced by Leonardo. The figure is also rendered in an accentuated S-curve pose, called contrapposto. The subject of this painting is the story of the patrician matron Lucretia who was the victim of rape by Sextus Tarquinius, the son of the tyrannical ruler of Rome. This tragic event is recounted by the ancient Roman historian Livy. The painting depicts the moment of Lucretia’s subsequent suicide. She embodies the female virtues of chastity and honor highly regarded in antiquity and in the Renaissance. This work is an example of the importance of ancient Roman texts as sources for visual artists in this period.