Lucretia
Shown from the thighs up, a pale-skinned woman looks down and off to our left as she holds the pointed end of a dagger toward her chest in this vertical painting. Her lips are slightly parted, and her arms are spread wide as holds the hilt of the dagger in her right hand, to our left. Her hooded, dark brown eyes are rimmed with red. Her head tilts to our left, her pale lips parted. There are gray shadows at the corners of her mouth and along her jawline. Her brown hair is pulled back under a cloth covering painted with white flecks to suggest shiny thread or possibly jewels. She wears a long, tawny-brown gown with diaphanous sleeves. The bodice is laced up over a cream-white undergarment with a deep V neck and voluminous sleeves with unfastened cuffs near her wrists. She wears a large, teardrop-shaped pearl in the ear we can see and two necklaces. One necklace is a strand of pearls, and the other is a gold and possibly jeweled pendant with another teardrop pearl hanging from a cord. A gold belt drapes around her hips over a narrow waist. She is warmly lit from the upper left and set against an earth-brown background. The artist signed and dated the center left, “Rembrandt 1664.”
Details
- Palette
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- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- overall: 120 x 101 cm (47 1/4 x 39 3/4 in.) framed: 159.1 x 139.4 x 16.5 cm (62 5/8 x 54 7/8 x 6 1/2 in.)
- Department
- CNE-B
- Holding institution
- National Gallery of Art
- Image provider
- national-gallery-of-art
- License
- CC0-1.0
- Credit
- Andrew W. Mellon Collection
Art Genome Taxonomy
9 tags
Subject Matter
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Human Figure Visual · 100%
A single prominently depicted woman occupies the composition, shown from approximately the thighs upward.
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Violence Both · 96%
The woman visibly holds a dagger with its point directed toward her chest; the title identifies the figure as Lucretia.
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Implied Narrative Both · 91%
The poised dagger, downcast expression, and suspended gesture present an event that is implied rather than fully narrated; the title identifies the depicted figure as Lucretia.
Visual Qualities
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Earth Tones Visual · 98%
The composition is dominated by dark browns, umbers, ochers, and subdued golds, with lighter accents in the skin, undergarment, sleeves, and jewelry.
Medium and Techniques
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Painting Both · 100%
The work is visibly a painted image, and the catalog classifies it as a painting.
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Oil Painting Metadata · 100%
The catalog identifies the medium as oil on canvas.
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Chiaroscuro Visual · 98%
Bright directional illumination on the figure contrasts strongly with the surrounding dark brown ground, concentrating attention on the face, hands, décolletage, and weapon.
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Large Brushstrokes/Loose Brushwork Visual · 90%
Broad, visibly worked strokes and broken highlights are especially apparent in the gown, sleeves, belt, jewelry, and dark background passages.
Time Periods
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17th Century Art Metadata · 100%
The work is dated 1664, placing it in the seventeenth century.
Source & rights
Rembrandt van Rijn. Lucretia. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington.