Art Institute of Chicago

Tarquin and Lucretia

Cornelis Cort (Netherlandish, 1533-before1578)

Date

c. 1571

Medium

Engraving in black on ivory laid paper

Culture

Netherlands

Department

Prints and Drawings

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

The fateful struggle between the lust-crazed Roman prince Tarquin and Lucretia, the chaste wife of another Italian ruler, inspired two engravings by Cornelis Cort after Titian’s well-known painting of this subject (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, England). This engraving is oriented in the same direction as the painting, though with a more complete composition than the subsequently cropped original work. This impression is a fine, dark and early first state, before the artist’s signature and a poem were added at the bottom. Threatening murder and dishonor, Tarquin raped Lucretia, but her subsequent suicide fueled a rebellion against the monarchy, forever changing Roman history.

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