The attribution to this artist is traditional but uncertain - the brightened palette suggests it could instead be by Palma Vecchio.

However, others identify the painting as part of Titian's series of half-length female figures from 1514 to 1515, which also includes the Flora at the Uffizi, the Woman with a Mirror at the Louvre, the Violante and the Young woman in a black dress in Vienna, Vanity in Munich and the Salome at the Galleria Doria Pamphilj.

The painting depicts Lucretia about to commit suicide to preserve her honour after disclosing her rape by Sextus Tarquinius the previous night, making her the model of Roman female virtus.

As in other treatments of the subject, there are sensual elements, such as Lucretia's falling robe and almost-bared breast.

Titian's better known late depiction of Lucretia's rape by Tarquin was completed over 50 years later, in 1571 (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge).