The death of Lucrece

Lucretia is an ancient roman heroin; she was raped by Sextus Tarquinius, son of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the tyrannical Etruscan king of Rome.
She revealed the shame of having her chastity extolled to her father and her husband and, first taking an oath of them for her revenge, suddenly stabbed herself.
Later on, Lucius Junius Brutus led the enraged populace in a rebellion that drove the Tarquins from Rome. The event of her suicide marks symbolically the foundation of the Roman Republic.
The neoclassical painter Collignon refears to the Livy’s version (also recounted in Shakespeare’s "The rape of Lucrece") and, according to the artistic movement he belongs to, the canvas painting evokes virtues: loyalty and devotion.