Detail View: The AMICA Library: Lucretia

AMICA ID: 
MIA_.34.19
AMICA Library Year: 
1998
Object Type: 
Paintings
Creator Name: 
Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn
Creator Role: 
painter
Creator Dates/Places: 
1606 - 1669
Gender: 
M
Creator Name-CRT: 
Rembrandt van Rijn
Title: 
Lucretia
View: 
Front View
Creation Date: 
1666
Creation Start Date: 
1666
Creation End Date: 
1666
Materials and Techniques: 
oil on canvas
Materials Terms: 
oil
Support Materials: 
canvas
Classification Term: 
Oil On Canvas
Dimensions: 
H.43-3/8 x W.36-1/3 in. overall
Component Measured: 
overall
Measurement Unit: 
in
AMICA Contributor: 
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Owner Location: 
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
ID Number: 
34.19
Credit Line: 
The William Hood Dunwoody Fund
Parts and Pieces: 
1
Inscriptions: 
SIGNATURE and DATE
Rights: 
Provenance: 
Radziwill Collection (according to Hofstede de Groot, VI, 1916, No. 220a)
Provenance: 
Sale, John Calvert Wombwell, London (Christies), June 4, 1853, No. 8
Provenance: 
Sale, William W. Bourdon, Newcastle on Tyne, London (Christies) June 28, 1862, No. 137. (bought in)
Provenance: 
J. Purvis Carter, London and Villa Torrigiani, Quinto, Florence (after 1877)
Provenance: 
Henry Reinhardt & Co., New York (ca. 1926)
Provenance: 
Herschel V. Jones, Minneapolis (ca. 1927)
Context: 

According to the Roman historian Livy, Lucretia, the wife of a Roman nobleman, was known for her virtue and loyalty. Sextus Tarquinius, the son of the ruling tyrant, raped her while her husband was away. The next day Lucretia told her husband and father what had happened and, in their presence, took her own life, choosing death over dishonor. No artist before Rembrandt told the story quite like this. He portrayed a poignant moment: Lucretia's profound sadness after she stabbed herself. Using a close vantage point, Rembrandt depicted the blood seeping from her wound, the tears filling her eyes.

Rembrandt painted this work late in his career, using a variety of techniques. In places he applied the colors thickly with a palette knife; elsewhere he painted more thinly with a brush, creating dramatic contrasts of light and dark. The shadows on Lucretia's face, for instance, accentuate her tragic expression. By expertly manipulating paint and glazes, Rembrandt created the illusion of light emanating from Lucretia's inner soul.

Acquired in 1934 34.19

Exhibition History: 
Detroit (1930), No. 77, illus.
Exhibition History: 
Chicago, Rembrandt and His Circle, (1936), No. 8, illus.
Exhibition History: 
Worcester (1936), No. 10, illus.
Exhibition History: 
Cleveland, Cleveland Museum of Art, The Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition, (1936), No.178.
Exhibition History: 
Chicago, Great Dutch Masters, (1942), No. 34, illus.
Exhibition History: 
St. Louis, City Art Museum, Forty Masterpieces, (1947) p. 98, illus.
Exhibition History: 
Los Angeles (1947), No. XXXI, illus.
Exhibition History: 
New York, Wildenstein & Co., (1950), No. 28, illus.
Exhibition History: 
Buffalo, New York, Albright Art Gallery, Painters Painters, (1954), No. 9, illus.
Exhibition History: 
Minneapolis, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Fortieth Anniversary Exhibition of Forty Masterpieces, (1955), No. 8
Exhibition History: 
Rotterdam/Amsterdam, (1956), No. 98.
Exhibition History: 
New York, M. Knoedler & Co., Paintings and Sculpture from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, (1957), No. 4, illus.
Exhibition History: 
Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, Rembrandt After Three Hundred Years, (1969); subsequently The Minneapolis Institute of Arts (1969-1970), and The Detroit Institute of Arts (1970), No. 21, illus. p. 107.
Exhibition History: 
Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art, Rembrandts Lucretias, 22 Sept. 1991 - 5 Jan. 1992; Minneapolis, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 18 Jan. - 3 May 1992.
Link to Work: 
MIA_.34.19
Related Multimedia Description: 
Antenna Audio: Permanent Collection Tour
Related Multimedia Description: 
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Related Image Identifier Link: 
MIA_.1413c.tif