Raimondi, Marcantonio. "Lucretia after Raphael" Copper plate engraving on laid paper after the original by master engraver Amand Durand. Original engraving was created in 1500's. This impression is well more than 130 years old. Published circa 1880. This is not a modern print. The strike is crisp and the lines are sharp. (Image Size: 5 5/16 x 8 5/8 inches) Comes with a Certificate of Authenticity. Notes:The story of Lucretia, a Roman matron whose husband's praise of her chastity incited Tarquinius, the son of the Roman king, to rape her, has long attracted the interest of writers as diverse as St. Augustine and Shakespeare, who wrote a narrative poem about her. Lucretia, after her rape, called together her relatives and asked if she was at fault. Upon being assured that she was not, she took a knife and stabbed herself lest other women in similar situations cite her as an example. Brutus led a revolt against the Tarquin family and, overthrowing them, established the Roman Republic. The inscription in Greek proclaims a moral: "It is better to die than to live in dishonor." St. Augustine strenuously disagreed, attributing her suicide either to her sense of complicity or to her pride at no longer being the most chaste of all Roman matrons.