(Bologna 1575–1642), attributed to , Lucretia, oil on canvas, 93 x 78 cm, framed,

Provenance: Pasolini dell‘Onde Collection, Ravenna, until 1976; European private collection;

Certificate: Dr. Emilio Negro (as a fully autograph work by Guido Reni - written communication)

At least two fully autograph versions of the present composition by Guido Reni are known, and we are extremely grateful to Dr. Emilio Negro for endorsing a full attribution to Guido Reni for the present painting (written communication). Dr. Negro dates the present painting to circa 1622. The success of the present composition is testified by the numerous copies and studio replicas, some in part painted by the master himself. Guido Reni visited the subject matter of Lucretia on several occasions in different formats: full size, three-quarter length and half length, such as here in the present painting. The success of Reni‘s handling of the subject matter was such that a poem eulogising the composition by Ulisse Bentivoglio was published in 1632. The two other autograph versions of the present composition are in New York, private collection (98 x 74 cm), which Stephen Pepper dated to 1632, making it a later version than the present painting (see S. Pepper, Guido Reni, L‘Opera Completa, 1988, cat. no. 143, fig. 125, ill.), and in Modena, private collection (85 x 76 cm), which Pepper dated to 1622/23, making the Modena version more or less contemporary to the present work (see op. cit., no. 22, fig. 16, ill.). Pepper believed the Modena version to be the prototype of this celebrated image. From archives we know that in 1624 the Roman family Patrizi had a painting of Lucretia by Guido Reni (see H. Hibbard, ‚Guido Reni‘s Corsini Magdalen: Its Date and Influence‘, in: In Memoriam Otto J. Brendel, New York, 1976, p. 229, no. 11) The subject matter of Lucretia, the legendary figure of the Roman Republic, would have been a fitting commission for a Roman patrician . It was Lucretia who, according to Livy, inspired the revolution that overthrew the monarchy and established the Roman Republic. Her rape by the King‘s son and subsequent suicide were the incidents that enflamed the dissatisfaction over the tyranny of the last King of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbuis, and as a result the prominent families instituted a republic and drove the extensive Tarquin family from Rome, successfully defending the Republic against attempted Tuscan and Latin intervention. Professor Andrea Emiliani has suggested an attribution to Giovan Francesco Gessi or Giacomo Sementi for the present painting.

Provenance: Pasolini dell‘Onde Collection, Ravenna, until 1976; European private collection; Certificate: Dr. Emilio Negro (as a fully autograph work by Guido Reni - written communication) At least two fully autograph versions of the present compositio