Lucretia

Daniel Mauch

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Lucretia was a beautiful and virtuous noblewoman who committed suicide in 510 bce after being raped by Prince Sextus Tarquinius, the son of the last Roman king. Her tragic death brought about the rebellion that established the Roman Republic. The subject of a secular story about ancient Rome, Lucretia was nevertheless admired for her chastity by religious writers during the Renaissance. She was both touted as a model of Christian womanhood and sexualized as an acceptable subject for artistic depictions of sensuous female nudes.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art