Burning with desire for Lucretia, Tarquinius threatened the faithful wife of Collatinus to kill her and her servant unless she accepted his advances. Forced to comply, Lucretia killed herself. The depiction of the story in the Renaissance and Baroque eras was often a pretext for artists to paint the nude. Here Giordano painted one of his most memorable nudes, using with dexterity light and shadows to render Lucretia’s back.

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LUCA GIORDANO intro