After learning the fundamentals of drawing and painting in his native Leiden, Rembrandt van Rijn went to Amsterdam in 1624 to study for six months with Pieter Lastman (1583–1633), a famous history painter. Upon completion of his training Rembrandt returned to Leiden. Around 1632 he moved to Amsterdam, quickly establishing himself as the town’s leading artist. He received many commissions for portraits and history paintings, and attracted a number of students who came to learn his method of painting.
The tragic story of Lucretia, recounted by Livy, took place in Rome in the sixth century BC during the reign of the tyrannical ruler Tarquinius Superbus. Rembrandt portrays Lucretia in utter anguish, right before her act of suicide. The tension surrounding that awful moment poignantly captures the moral dilemma of a woman forced to choose between life and honor.
Lucretia's husband, Collatinus, had boasted to his fellow soldiers that her loyalty and virtue were greater than that of their wives. Taking him up on the challenge, the men immediately rode to Rome where they discovered Lucretia and her handmaidens spinning wool. Lucretia's very virtue enflamed the desire of Sextus Tarquinius, son of the tyrant, who secretly returned to the house a few days later. Lucretia received him as an honored guest, but he later betrayed that hospitality by entering her chamber and threatening to kill her if she did not yield to him. The next day Lucretia summoned her father and husband, disclosed what had happened, and told them that, even though they deemed her an innocent victim, she was determined to end her life in order to reclaim her honor. Lucretia then drew a knife from her robe, drove it into her heart, and died. Overwhelmed by grief and anger, Lucretia’s father, her husband, and two accompanying friends swore to avenge her death. Lucretia's rape and death triggered a revolt that led to the overthrow of monarchical tyranny and the creation of the Roman Republic.
Details
- Title: Lucretia
- Creator: Rembrandt van Rijn
- Date Created: 1664
- Physical Dimensions: overall: 120 x 101 cm (47 1/4 x 39 3/4 in.) framed: 159.1 x 139.4 x 16.5 cm (62 5/8 x 54 7/8 x 6 1/2 in.)
- Provenance: Jean-Joseph-Pierre-Augustin Lapeyrière [1779-1831, known as Augustin Lapeyrière, then de Lapeyrière], Paris; (his sale, Galerie Le Brun, Paris, 19 April 1825 and days following [originally scheduled for 14 March 1825 and days following], no. 143). Michael M. Zachary [d. 1837], London;[1] (sale, Phillips, London, 14-15 April 1826, 1st day, no. 64, bought in); (Zachary sale, Phillips, London, 31 May 1828, no. 25); purchased by Sir Thomas Lawrence [1769-1830] for Hugh Andrew Johnstone Munro [1797-1864], London, and Novar House, near Evanton, Ross-shire, Scotland.[2] Paul Pavlovich Demidoff [1839-1885], Prince of San Donato, near Florence; (his sale, at his residence, Florence, 15 March-10 April 1880, no. 1146). (Léon Gauchez, Paris); (sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 13 July 1889, no. 56, bought in); (Léon Gauchez, Paris), until at least 1893.[3] (Bourgeois & Cie., Paris); (Leo Nardus [1868-1955], Suresnes, France, and New York);[4] Matthew Chaloner Durfee Borden [1842-1912], New York, by 1906;[5] (his estate sale, American Art Association, New York, 13-14 February 1913, 1st day, no. 28); (M. Knoedler & Co., New York and Paris);[6] sold 1913 to (Frederik Müller and Co., Amsterdam); sold 1913 to August Janssen [1863-1918], Amsterdam;[7] his estate; sold 1919 with the entire Janssen collection to (Jacques Goudstikker, Amsterdam).[8] Hermann Heilbuth [1861-1945], Copenhagen, by 1920.[9] (Ehrich Brothers, New York), in 1921.[10] (M. Knoedler & Co., New York and Paris); sold November 1921 to Andrew W. Mellon, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.; deeded 28 December 1934 to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1937 to NGA. [1] Although the main seller at the April 1826 sale was Lord Berwick, there were also other consignors. One annotation in the Wallace Collection (London) Library’s copy of the sale catalogue indicates that Zachary was the consigner of the NGA painting; another annotation next to the Lucretia entry reads “Sir T Lawrence.” The Getty Provenance Index© Database, Sale Catalogs, lot 0064 from sale catalog Br-2806, identifies the latter annotation as indicating a previous owner. [2] This information is given by Cornelis Hofstede de Groot, _Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten holländischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts_, 10 vols., Esslingen and Paris, 1907-1928: 6(1915):120, no. 218 (also English edition, Cornelis Hofstede de Groot, _A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century_, trans. Edward G. Hawke, 8 vols., London, 1907–1927: 6(1916):143-144, no. 218). However, the Wallace Collection (London) Library’s copy of the sale catalogue is annotated with the name “Woodin” as the buyer (The Getty Provenance Index© Database, Sale Catalogs, lot 0025 from sale catalog BR-3135). Munro acquired a significant collection that was dispersed in sales both before and after his death, but the painting has not been located in any of the sale catalogues. Hofstede de Groot lists a Munro sale in London on 26 March 1859 (given as 26 March 1851, in the 1920-1921 exhibition catalogue), which has not been identified; the painting does not appear in a sale of Munro’s English pictures held in London on 26 March 1860. [3] Although Algernon Graves, _Art Sales from early in the eighteenth century to early in the twentieth century (mostly old master and early English pictures)_, 3 vols. London, 1918-1921: 2:383, gives the buyer at the 1889 sale as Wontner, the painting was in fact bought in and returned to the consignor, Gauchez. This information was kindly provided by Lynda McLeod, Librarian, Christie’s Archives, London, in her e-mail of 28 March 2013 (in NGA curatorial files). Émile Michel (_Rembrandt: Sa vie, son oeuvre et son temps_, Paris, 1893: 489) saw the painting in Paris, but did not identify the owner, who is named by Malcolm Bell (_Rembrandt Van Rijn and His Work_, London, 1899: 157). [4] Jonathan Lopez kindly provided this information (oral communication, 13 October 2006). See also Jonathan Lopez, "'Gross False Pretences': The Misdeeds of Art Dealer Leo Nardus," _Apollo_, 2nd ser., vol. 166, no. 548 (December 2007): 78, 80, 82 nn. 25, 26. [5] Wilhelm von Bode and Cornelis Hofstede de Groot, _The Complete Work of Rembrandt: History, Description and Heliographic Reproduction of All the Master's Pictures, with a Study of His Life and His Art_, translated by Florence Simmonds, 8 vols., Paris, 1897-1906: 8(1906):152, no. 595. [6] Newspapers speculated that Knoedler’s might have been buying for the New York collector Henry Clay Frick; copies of various articles are in NGA curatorial files. [7] The 1913 sales are described by Ben Broos, _Great Dutch Paintings from America_, exh. cat. The Hague and Zwolle, 1990: 69-70. See also Gerhardus Knuttel, "De Lucretia En Andere Werken Van Rembrandt Bij De Firma Fred. Muller & Co. Amsterdam," _Elsevier’s Geïllustreerd Maandschrift_ 47, no. 2 (January-June 1914): 137-144. [8] “Janssen Paintings Sold in Holland,” _The Milwaukee Journal_ (3 August 1919): 10; Otto Hirschmann, “Die Sammlung August Janssen,” _Der Cicerone_ 12 (January 1920): 17-18. [9] The painting was included in a 1920-1921 exhibition of Heilbuth’s collection in Copenhagen. [10] René Gimpel, _Journal d’un collectionneur: marchand de tableaux_, Paris, 1963: 184-185.
- Medium: oil on canvas
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