Lorenzo Lotto, Portrait of a Woman as Lucretia (Lucretia Valier?), 1533

Lorenzo Lotto,
Portrait of a Woman as Lucretia (Lucretia Valier?)
1533

Notes:

• It references the classical figure Lucretia
• Aligns with common marriage themes of rape as the classical Lucretia was raped by a tyrant, submitted to him but later committed suicide in front of her entire family to save the family honour
• The commissioned painting was made in Republican Venice because the family takes a stand and sets up a Republic
• Lucretia is depicted with several markers
• Her hair is tied up indicating that she is already married
  
• In the paragone tradition a drawing is shown in her left hand. The drawing, or desgeno was the foundation of all the arts
  
• It calls attention the the sitters hand and by consequence the artists hand. It links desegno to ingeno
  
• It draws attention to the debate between painting and poetry
  
• This social debate affected artists and writers social mobility in the courts
  
• Courtiers used to be trained humanists, they werre now artists
• The debate of whether painting or poetry best represents a person was a prevalent contemporary debate, this is referenced in the line of poetry present in the portrait
• Portraits are exemplary - they serve to evoke the character of the absent sitter
• The argument was based on what showed the moral constitution of the subject best
• interior likeness vs. exterior likeness
• The inscription is Livy on Lucretia's appropriate behaviour

Artist Biography:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorenzo_Lotto

Story of Lucretia:
http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/ROME/RAPE.HTM