Lucretia

Grazia Leonardo called Leonardo da Pistoia

(Pistoia 1503 - Naples post 1548)

Critics variously ascribed this work to Perugino, Bronzino and Jacopino del Conte before it was finally rightly attributed to Leonardo Grazia of Pistoia, a name which first appears in the Borghese Collection in 1650. This oil on slate depicts Lucretia, the wife of Collatinus, whom ancient Romans celebrated as a model of virtue and marital fidelity: according to legend, Lucretia stabbed herself to death in front of her husband after she was raped by Sextus Tarquinius, son of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus. The episode led to the fall of the monarchy.

Object details

Commentary

Although in the past this work has been attributed to various artists, including Pietro Perugino, Bronzino, and Jacopino del Conte (see Della Pergola 1959), recent studies (Leone de Castris 1996; Corso 2012–13; Corso 2018; Bisceglia 2024) have ulitmately ascribed the work to the Pistoian painter Leonardo Grazia. His oeuvre has expanded considerably over the past two decades to include numerous paintings, many of which were executed on stone. Grazia was active between Rome, Naples, and Tuscany during the first half of the sixteenth century and was initially associated with this Lucretia in 1650 by Iacomo Manilli, wardrobe keeper of the Borghese household (Manilli 1650). Manilli recorded the painting in an inventory of Scipione Borghese’s collection, probably compiled around 1633 (Corradini 1998, p. 450; Pierguidi 2014).

The painting, executed in oil on slate, depicts Lucretia, the noble wife of Collatinus, venerated by the Romans as an exemplar of virtue and marital fidelity. According to legend, after being raped by Sextus Tarquinius, the son of Rome’s last king, Tarquinius Superbus, Lucretia took her own life in front of her husband. This gesture subsequently provoked popular revolt and led to the fall of the monarchy. Departing from the traditional depiction of Lucretia as a suffering heroine, Grazia presents her nude, with an elaborate hairstyle, clutching the dagger of her suicide. Despite her tragic fate, her elegance and composure elevate her to the statue of a sacred figure – a modern martyr who embodies idealised femininity and irresistibile allure, while showing no visible pain.

The diadem adorning Lucretia’s head, also appears in the Cleopatra (inv. 337) and in the Saint Catherine of Alexandria from a private collection (Rome, Christie’s, 26 May 1998, lot no. 254). It is inspired by an engraving by Parmigianino, specifically the Lucretia by Enea Vico, whose pose Grazia reworked for his sensuous Venus (inv. 092; see Corso 2018, p. 24; Bisceglia 2024, p. 74, note 6).

This particular representation has sparked wide scholarly debate. Some interpret it as a celebration of Lucretia’s strength and dignity; others see it as a more ambiguous, sensual reading of the narrative. Undeniably, regardless of interpretation, this Lucretia remains a powerful and evocative work, reflecting the influence of Mannerism, especially Parmigianesque models. Grazia transformes these influences through a highly personal idiom, whose formal vocabulary and use of colour bestow upon the heroine a metallic sheen, transfiguring her into a timeless icon of feminine allure.

Contributing to the idea of enduring beauty is the medium itself: painting on stone, a technique Grazia likely learned during his Roman sojourn in the early 1530s, through direct contact with Sebastiano del Piombo. The expertly prepared stone proposes itself as an ideal support for the representation of female beauty: its smooth and compact surface allows for the rendering of fluid and precise colouring, imbuing the figures with a metallic luminosity that accentuates their sensuality and grace. Furthermore, the material carries symbolic weight: its hardness and inflexibility evoke Lucretia’s virtue, tested, like gold upon the stone, by the painter’s skill.

A Lucretia on slate of a similar composition (private collection; Maestri della Pittura Italiana 2007, pp. 34–41) was produced by the artist during his Neapolitan period (see Bisceglia 2024, p. 74, note 4), and is therefore created later than the work under consideration, which is dated to around 1535 (Bisceglia 2024, pp. 69, 71 fig. 5). Stylistically, it is closely related to a Christ Carrying the Cross held in a French private collection.

Antonio Iommelli