The Rape of Lucretia (Ficherelli)

After failing repeatedly to persuade her to his lust, he finally threatened to kill her and one of his slaves and lay their corpses naked together, falsely informing her kinsmen that he had discovered the pair in the act of adultery and so slew them; whereupon she acquiesced.

Lucius Junius Brutus, her husband's cousin, then led his kinsmen and their followers to overthrow the Tarquin monarchy and establish the Roman Republic.

Lucretia is abed, nude but for a small fold of her pinkish coverlet, and resists Tarquinius, who holds her with his left hand and threatens her with a dagger (resembling a stiletto) in his right.

[1] Aristide Sartorio (1911) provides the following, unsupported anecdote: "[T]he artist's daring innovation of robing Tarquin as a soldier of his day caused some astonishment among our forefathers then unused to such up to date freedoms.

Francesca Baldassari notes the theatrical effect of the gold-fringed maroon and lilac curtains or drapes which frame the action like a play; also the position of the figures, close to the picture plane and slightly above the viewer's gaze.