Lucretia is a 1666 history painting by the Dutch Golden Age painter Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn.

It is an oil painting on canvas that depicts a myth about a woman named Lucretia who lived during the ancient Roman eras.

Hendrickje had been chastised for "living like a whore", by the Dutch Reformed Church when she gave birth to their illegitimate daughter, Cornelia van Rijn.

Alpers noted the patriarchal motives underlying the 1666 painting may be Rembrandt's guilt for not marrying Hendrickje, and the displacement of his domestic life.

He knew of Hendrickje's experience and pain and used her as "Lucretia" to explore the full humanity of a woman – a tragic object of desire.

[3] In this depiction of Lucretia, she is wearing an ornate gold dress and pearl earrings, indicating her status as a woman of wealth.

[9] There has been speculation by Sir Lawrence Gowing that the 1666 figure is not Lucretia, but in fact another Roman heroine, Arria, who stabbed herself to encourage her husband, Paetus, who was sentenced to death by suicide.

[10] Caravaggio's influence spread to the Netherlands and provided adaptation of figural postures, structural principle and dark shadows.

Caravaggio's style often included illuminated figures, spot-lit, emerging from surrounding shadow – a technique called tenebrism.

The head and body's composition are similar: both have their head slightly tiled to an angle, both forms end below the waist, horizontal marks on Lucretia dress may mirror David's bone structure, and Lucretia's chain across her dress is similar to the line of David’s shirt.

Art historian Jeremy Caniglia published a study in 2020 that uses x-rays, palette comparisons and overlay analysis technology to show how Rembrandt created Lucretia as a feminized copy of Caravaggio's David.