Castello del Buonconsiglio monumenti e collezioni provinciali

Lunette: ‘Lucretia’s Suicide’ and the 'Killing of Virginia'

The last two lunettes, with events from Roman history such as Lucretia’s Suicide and The Killing of Virginia are other demonstrations of the fateful consequences of erotic impulses that reason and virtue cannot restrain. Lucretia, a Roman matron of proven virtue, a victim of violence by the son of the King of Rome, Tarquin the Proud, prefers death, her husband trying in vain to save her, to living in dishonour. There is also the tragic story of Virginia as told by Tito Livio: Virginia, a young Roman woman of the 5th century B.C., object of longing by the decemvir Appio Claudio, who attempts in vain to seduce her, finally makes her his slave. Virginia’s father, worried for his daughter, does not hesitate to kill her to save her from dishonour. This event can be seen as an extreme gesture that brings one to sacrificing that which is most dear, to avoid the suffering provoked by insane and violent passions.

• « Previous