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Tarquinius und Lucretia
Historical Context
Tarquinius and Lucretia, painted around 1750 and now in the Schaezlerpalais in Augsburg, depicts the rape of Lucretia by the Etruscan prince Tarquinius — an episode that according to Roman legend provoked the overthrow of the monarchy and the establishment of the Republic. The subject, combining violence, virtue, and political consequence, was popular in European art from Titian through Rembrandt. Tiepolo's treatment brings Venetian luminosity to the dramatic confrontation. The Schaezlerpalais, an eighteenth-century Augsburg palace now serving as an art museum, provides an appropriate Rococo setting for this work.
Technical Analysis
Executed with airy compositions and attention to dramatic foreshortening, the work reveals Giovanni Battista Tiepolo's characteristic approach to composition and surface. The treatment of light and the careful modulation of color create visual richness within a unified pictorial scheme.
Look Closer
- ◆Notice the violent subject of Tarquinius and Lucretia — a story of assault that according to Roman legend provoked the overthrow of the monarchy.
- ◆Look at the airy compositions and dramatic foreshortening bringing characteristic grace even to this disturbing 1750 Augsburg subject.
- ◆Observe the combination of violence and beauty that tested painters' ability to handle morally complex classical narrative.
