Let’s get the historical facts first from Wikipedia:

Lucretia is a legendary figure in the history of the Roman Republic. Her husband was Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus, son of Egerius, son of Arrus II, who was the brother of Tarquinius Priscus, their father being Demaratus the Corinthian. ^[1]

According to Livy’s version of the establishment of the Republic, the last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus (superbus, "the proud") who ruled from 535 BC to 510 BC, had a violent son, Sextus Tarquinius, who raped a Roman noblewoman named Lucretia.

Lucretia compelled her family to take action by gathering the men, telling them what happened, and killing herself. Lucius Junius Brutus incited the people of Rome against the royal family by displaying her body. They were impelled to avenge her, and Brutus led an uprising that drove the Tarquins out of Rome to take refuge in Etruria. The result was the replacement of the monarchy with the new Roman Republic. Among the avengers were her husband Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus, ^[4] being one of the first consuls of Rome, along with Lucius Junius Brutus. They were second cousins as was Sextus Tarquinius.

So basically here we have the template for the virtuous maid or wife - who rather kills herself instead of living without honor and shame. But it also includes the motive or revenge - from one family against another.

2000 years later we still have rape within our society. It is still a most vile act and punished by law - and still in some countries woman are shamed and even killed for it.

Rape, suicide and revenge make excellent stories for artists. The story of Lucretia has been put into words, onto paint and into statues. The great William Shakespeare wrote the "The Rape of Lucrece" (here is some background to the poem).

In this series "The Story of Lucretia" you find several paintings and one statue about this tragic event. I haven’t included all artwork I found - I only wanted the most interesting pieces or have a look at well known Maestros and how they handled this ancient motive.

Part of the Art Motive Series: "The Story of Lucretia"