We would often see her images and, perhaps just as often, forget her name. In paintings, she is a beautiful tragic figure, looking up helplessly towards a Roman soldier standing over her. However, in 16th century Europe, there was no other ancient name that fuels an artist’s imagination like “Lucretia”.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://martinifisher.com/2022/07/14/the-rape-of-lucretia-politics-and-the-womans-body/