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Thisbe and Pyramus Dying by Suicide

Date: about 1450–1475, illumination added about 1515–1520
Medium: Tempera colors, gold, and ink
Culture: French
Department: Manuscripts
Institution: Getty Museum
Object ID: fb7e5927-3992-488e-9097-907c103fd288

From the Getty Museum record

The tragic end of Thisbe and her lover Pyramus was a popular story throughout the Middle Ages and beyond, serving as a moralizing and entertaining tale against the passions of youth. The lovers were neighbors who, as a consequence of being kept apart by their parents, planned to run away together. The two arranged to meet at a grove outside the city, near a fountain. Arriving first, Thisbe encountered a lioness; fleeing and dropping her cloak, the lioness wiped its mouth on the garment, staining it red with blood from an earlier meal. Pyramus arrived at the scene only to find Thisbe’s bloodied cloak, and, believing her dead, died by his own sword. At the moment he took his last breath, Thisbe returned, and, thinking that he was distraught about not finding her there, likewise died by suicide. Étienne Colaud carefully heeded the details of the story as described by the author of this text, Boccaccio, showing when Thisbe’s final words were heard by Pyramus, who opened his eyes and reached for her as she plunged his sword into her chest and fell upon him.

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