Lucretia

Lucretia, known for her purity, was wife of Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus. Collantinus bragged to a group of friends, including his cousin the prince Sextus Tarquinius, how beautiful and virtuous she was. They rode to the house to spy on the wife of Collatinus, Lucretia, and found her at work at the loom. Later Sextus would return while Collatinus was away and was invited to be a guest of the house by Lucretia herself. Sextus would wait until night and rape Lucretia. The next morning She summoned her father and husband. When they arrived (also in the company of Lucius Junius Brutus) she told them what Sextus had done and demanded that the men before her reclaim her honor. Then in service of her purity (and to the surprise of the onlookers) she drove a dagger into her own heart.

Rembrandt's unsurpassed vision created a wonderful depiction of Lucretia. This was my first introduction to the story years ago and I believe it perfectly captures Lucretia's purity while also telling the story of tragedy. The emotional nature of the painting was charged with Rembrandt having recently lost his long time partner to tragic circumstances. Lucretia herself closely resembles his partner Hendrickje.