The Suicide of Lucretia
Toussaint Gelton (c.1630 - 1680)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1671 (signed and dated on reverse)
Materials
Oil on panel
Measurements
254 x 203 mm (10 x 8 in)
Place of origin
Denmark
Order this imageCollection
Ham House, Surrey
NT 1140044
Caption
According to the Roman historian Livy (I. 58), the virtuous Lucretia, wife of the nobleman Collatinus, was raped by Sextus Tarquinius. She encouraged the Romans to take revenge and to overthrow Sextus's father, Tarquinius Superbus (the Proud), King of Rome, led by Junius Brutus. But Lucretia, too shameful, subsequently committed suicide. The incident hastened the revolt which led to the establishment of the Roman Republic.
Summary
Oil painting on panel, The Suicide of Lucretia, by Toussaint Gelton (Flanders or Holland c.1630 - Copenhagen 1680), inscribed on the back: A / T. gellton fecit 1671 / prêt: 4.0.0 / Lucretia 1671. A three-quarter length female figure, standing, facing, head turned to the left her eyes gazing upwards, dressed in a white satin dress that has fallen off her right shoulder to reveal her right breast, and that is held by a brocaded sash around her waist. She holds a long thin dagger in her right hand, with which she has already penetrated and drawn blood from below her right breast; with her left she holds strands of her loose blonde hair. A blue curtain, draped to the left, occupies the top left corner.
Provenance
First recorded in 1683 in the Green Closet at Ham House (in the two known drafts of ‘An Estimate of Pictures in Ham = house’ under no.142 and no.145, respectively, as: “Lucrecia of Gelton £4.00.00”); curiously, however, in the counter-valuation (using the ‘Estimate’s’ numbering) entitled ‘A Catalog of Pictures wth their prices taken by Mr Wyke [=Jan Wyck]’, it is just called ‘Lucrecia stabbing her self of a Curious hand £04’; in 1948 retained by Sir Cecil Lyonel Tollemache, 5th Bt (1886–1969), when his father, Sir Lyonel Tollemache, 4th Bt (1854–1952), gave Ham House to the National Trust; left by Sir Cecil to his sister’s son, Anthony Judd (1911–2001); accepted by HM Government in lieu of inheritance tax on the estate of Anthony Judd and allocated to the National Trust for display at Ham House, 2003.
Marks and inscriptions
A/T. Gelton fecit 1671/pret 4.0.0/Lucretia
Makers and roles
Toussaint Gelton (c.1630 - 1680), artist
