PUBLICOLA
THE RAPE OF LUCRETIA
The Tragedy of Lucretia by Sandro Botticelli
In Botticelli’s painting of this infamous event, Lucretia’s body lies in the center with Brutus standing over her calling for the overthrow of King Tarquin.
The scene on the left porch depicts Sextus attacking Lucretia as she tries to resist him, while the scene on the right porch shows the moment of Lucretia’s suicide in front of her husband, father, Brutus, and Publicola.
This painting hangs in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Massachusetts. For more information about the painting, you can visit the museum’s website or Wikipedia.