Lucretia

Lucretia was a Roman noblewoman who, in the old story, was raped by the son of the king and then took her own life, an act that helped bring down the monarchy and usher in the Roman Republic. Artemisia Gentileschi painted her more than once, and she always chose the same instant: the deed is over, and Lucretia sits with the knife already in her hand, her face caught between grief and resolve. This version dates to around 1623 to 1625, when Artemisia was one of very few women in Italy running her own workshop and taking commissions from powerful patrons. She gives us Lucretia half-undressed and turned upward, thinking rather than dying, the whole drama pressed into one figure against the dark.