Both paintings tell of the tragic fate of Lucretia, a Roman noblewoman renowned for her beauty and virtue, who was raped by Sextus Tarquinius, son of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the last king of Rome. If she resisted, her attacker threatened to kill her and claim to have caught her committing adultery with a slave. To save the honour of her family, Lucretia submitted to the rape. Afterwards, sending for her husband and father, she told them what had happened. Filled with shame and despair, she took her own life. The family swore vengeance, and the ensuing revolt led to the toppling of the tyrannical royal dynasty and the emergence of the Roman Republic.

The legend, preserved in the writings of various classical authors, was seen in the early Renaissance and beyond as exemplifying female virtue, with Lucretia elevated to one of the most heroic female figures of all time, surpassing even many within the biblical canon. The fate of “Lucrece” (as she was known in English) became a popular theme for paintings, of which there are many other examples in the Munich collection. In 1528, for example, Jörg Breu the Elder visualized the entire narrative in a single panel. Other depictions concentrated on the rape itself or the subsequent act of suicide by the despairing victim.

The two versions discussed here, by Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) and Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472–1553), belong in the latter category. Painted in 1518 and 1525–30 respectively, they are both unusual in that they show Lucretia as a life-sized, (almost) completely nude figure.

Despite this similarity, there are also noticeable differences. Dürer’s sculptural Lucretia is based on principles of proportion developed by the artist himself to create maximum verisimilitude in the depiction of the human body. Cranach, by contrast, takes a much freer approach to anatomical details. Another difference is the contextual reference provided by the bed in the background of Dürer’s work, while Cranach’s Lucretia appears against a neutral backdrop.

Life-size female nudes in a profane context were a real novelty in panel painting north of the Alps around 1520. A Venus by Lucas Cranach, painted in 1509 (The Hermitage, St. Petersburg), is believed to be the earliest dated example. Shortly before, in 1507, Albrecht Dürer had led the way in the sacred context, with his life-sized Adam and Eve (Museo del Prado, Madrid).

While depictions of nudes were rare exceptions in Dürer’s paintings, Cranach’s Wittenberg workshop produced them in large numbers from the 1520s onwards. Obviously, there was high demand for them in the humanist, reformationist environment of the Saxon court, where Cranach was court painter. There are over fifty surviving versions of the Suicide of Lucretia alone, in a variety of different sizes.

While nudes in panel paintings had previously been restricted to religious contexts – the resurrected at the Last Judgement, the crucified Christ, and prelapsarian Adam and Eve, for example – completely new possibilities were opened up by the Renaissance and its reawakened interest in classical mythology and history.

Paintings like the Suicide of Lucretia presented morality tales for the contemporary, humanistically educated, and generally male viewers, while at the same time using the pretext of morality to display the otherwise forbidden erotic charms of the female body.

At the Catholic court of Maximilian I (1573-1651), to whose Munich collection both paintings had found their way by the early 1600s, attitudes to the open display of female nudes were obviously different from what they had been a hundred years earlier, when the works were made. The Lucretias were “sanitized” by overpainting and transferred to Maximilian’s private gallery (Kammergalerie), to which hardly anyone had access apart from the elector himself. Cranach’s (now clothed) Lucretia was even hung before Dürer’s, covering the latter completely, and had to be opened like a door to reveal Dürer’s painting behind.

The change in attitudes may have been due to religious scruples and increasing prudery in the wake of the Counter-Reformation. On the other hand, one could argue that the paintings’ new display context merely heightened their erotic appeal. Not only could Lucretia now be admired both clothed and unclothed, but her exposure required the active participation of the viewer, in an act of private undressing. 

Dürer’s painting was only slightly altered: the drapery over the pubic area was extended to cover more of the torso. Cranach’s nude, on the other hand, disappeared almost completely beneath extensive overpainting. This was removed again in the early 20th century, by which time several fundamental changes had taken place in the viewing habits of the public, the prevailing social norms, and the treatment of historical artworks. The two photographs show the painting before (to the left) and during its restoration which was finished in 1919 (to the right).

Concerns about the appropriateness and cultural acceptability of nude portrayals are by no means a thing of the past, however. In 2023, Christian-conservative circles in the USA argued over whether images of Michelangelo’s famous statue of David should be allowed in school classrooms, and female nipples are now censored by algorithms on social media.

On the other hand, from a feminist perspective, paintings like the Suicide of Lucretia may also raise critical questions about the perpetuation of male, patriarchal ways of looking at women’s bodies, voyeurism, and the depiction of rape victims.

With all this in mind, we hope this presentation will invite viewers, amongst other things, to explore for themselves the conditions by which the portrayal of nudity is acceptable, inappropriate, or offensive.

We are grateful to the Herbert Schuchardt-Stiftung for its support of the exhibition and our public engagement programme.

Art information
Every Sunday from 12.30 p.m. to 2.30 p.m. directly at the presentation.

Further educational program will be announced on our website.

We would like to thank the Herbert Schuchardt-Stiftung for sponsoring the exhibition and educational program.