Lucretia

In 1787 Bartolomeo Cavaceppi, a Roman sculptor who restored ancient statues, put his collection up for sale. Two half-length women went to the Borghese family as a Juno and a Leda by Perino del Vaga, a pupil of Raphael. One scholar has identified them with this picture and its pendant. If she is right, Lucretia was sold under the wrong name, and the slip is easy to understand. There is no dagger in view. She is dressed like a court lady, with a necklace of dark beads and a gold brooch at her shoulder. Only a small wound beneath her bared breast, easy to miss, tells her story. In Roman legend her rape by the king's son, and her suicide, brought down Rome's last king. The first certain record of the panel, in 1833, gave it to Giorgio Vasari.