Gavin Hamilton, 1723 - 1798
The Death of Lucretia
Oil on Canvas, 1763 - 1767
Label on painting:
According the ancient myth, the rape of Lucretia was a pivotal event in the foundation of the Roman republic. Lucretia was a virtuous noblewoman during the reign of the tyrant King Tarquin. After being raped by the king’s son, she stabbed herself in the presence of her husband Collatinus, her father Lucretius, and two companions-in-arms, Lucius Junius Brutus and Valerius Publicola. Dying, Lucretia begged them to seek revenge. Here she is shown collapsing against her husband, who covers his face in grief. Brutus holds up the bloodstained dagger and, joined by Lucretia’s father and Valerius, swears and oath to overthrow Tarquin. From this moment, Brutus leads the revolt. Tarquin and his family are expelled, and the Roman republic is established – and sustained for centuries by the models of the virtue and piety.
The painting, “The Death of Lucretia” by Gavin Hamilton can be found at the Yale Center for British Art. I was drawn to this piece particularly because of the emotional impact it had on me. In the painting, you see Lucretia dying by her husband’s side, who is obviously emotionally distraught over her death. She has killed herself because she has lost her honor after being raped by the prince. One can sense the pain and anger, and perhaps even put themselves in the positions of the subjects of the painting. It is a heartbreaking story.
As the myth is told, Sextus Tarquinius is taken by Lucretia’s beauty one night while a guest in her house and intoxicated on wine so he decides he wants to violate her chastity. The next night, he returns and awakens her in her bed from her sleep with a sword to her throat threatening to kill her if she does not obey. He tells her that if she does not comply that he will kill her and leave her body next to a nude servant so that everyone will think she died in a dishonorable act of adultery so she complies. Afterwards, she sends word to her family to come quick because something bad has happened. When they arrive, Lucretia begs them to seek revenge for dishonoring her and then, taking a knife, which she had hidden under her robe, proceeds to commit suicide by plunging the knife into her heart. Brutus then took the bloody knife from Lucretia’s hand and exclaimed:
By this blood, which was so pure before the crime of the prince, I swear before you, O gods, to chase the King Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, with his criminal wife and all their offspring, by fire, iron, and all the methods I have at my disposal, and never to tolerate Kings in Rome evermore, whether of that family of any other.
Gavin Hamilton was a Scottish painter, an archaeologist, and a dealer of 16th – 17 century paintings. He was born in Lanmark in 1723 and lived until 1798. He studied Greek at Glasgow University then traveled to Rome in the 1740s where he settled permanently in the 1750s because archaeological digs in Rome at the time were generating a renewed interest in classical art. He was known to be helpful to young artists who also traveled to Italy to study. Hamilton’s paintings influenced the neoclassical style in art. Hamilton’s works typically illustrate scenes from works of classical literature such as poems by Homer and works by the Roman historian Livy. For example, here is a painting by Hamilton called “Achilles Lamenting the Death of Patroclus.”
The Death of Lucretia
Oil on Canvas, 1763 - 1767
Label on painting:
According the ancient myth, the rape of Lucretia was a pivotal event in the foundation of the Roman republic. Lucretia was a virtuous noblewoman during the reign of the tyrant King Tarquin. After being raped by the king’s son, she stabbed herself in the presence of her husband Collatinus, her father Lucretius, and two companions-in-arms, Lucius Junius Brutus and Valerius Publicola. Dying, Lucretia begged them to seek revenge. Here she is shown collapsing against her husband, who covers his face in grief. Brutus holds up the bloodstained dagger and, joined by Lucretia’s father and Valerius, swears and oath to overthrow Tarquin. From this moment, Brutus leads the revolt. Tarquin and his family are expelled, and the Roman republic is established – and sustained for centuries by the models of the virtue and piety.
The painting, “The Death of Lucretia” by Gavin Hamilton can be found at the Yale Center for British Art. I was drawn to this piece particularly because of the emotional impact it had on me. In the painting, you see Lucretia dying by her husband’s side, who is obviously emotionally distraught over her death. She has killed herself because she has lost her honor after being raped by the prince. One can sense the pain and anger, and perhaps even put themselves in the positions of the subjects of the painting. It is a heartbreaking story.
As the myth is told, Sextus Tarquinius is taken by Lucretia’s beauty one night while a guest in her house and intoxicated on wine so he decides he wants to violate her chastity. The next night, he returns and awakens her in her bed from her sleep with a sword to her throat threatening to kill her if she does not obey. He tells her that if she does not comply that he will kill her and leave her body next to a nude servant so that everyone will think she died in a dishonorable act of adultery so she complies. Afterwards, she sends word to her family to come quick because something bad has happened. When they arrive, Lucretia begs them to seek revenge for dishonoring her and then, taking a knife, which she had hidden under her robe, proceeds to commit suicide by plunging the knife into her heart. Brutus then took the bloody knife from Lucretia’s hand and exclaimed:
By this blood, which was so pure before the crime of the prince, I swear before you, O gods, to chase the King Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, with his criminal wife and all their offspring, by fire, iron, and all the methods I have at my disposal, and never to tolerate Kings in Rome evermore, whether of that family of any other.
Gavin Hamilton was a Scottish painter, an archaeologist, and a dealer of 16th – 17 century paintings. He was born in Lanmark in 1723 and lived until 1798. He studied Greek at Glasgow University then traveled to Rome in the 1740s where he settled permanently in the 1750s because archaeological digs in Rome at the time were generating a renewed interest in classical art. He was known to be helpful to young artists who also traveled to Italy to study. Hamilton’s paintings influenced the neoclassical style in art. Hamilton’s works typically illustrate scenes from works of classical literature such as poems by Homer and works by the Roman historian Livy. For example, here is a painting by Hamilton called “Achilles Lamenting the Death of Patroclus.”
Here is an oil on canvas portrait of Gavin Hamilton done by Archibald Skirving:
Interesting note, everywhere I looked on-line had this painting labeled as “The Oath of Brutus” – example: http://www.humanitiesweb.org/human.php?s=g&p=c&a=p&ID=426
References:
Gavin Hamilton, Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2009http://encarta.msn.com
http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/ancient/livy-rape.html
http://www.nationalgalleries.org/index.php/collection/on_loan/4:318/results/20/2663/
http://www.nationalgalleries.org/collection/online_search/4:324/result/0/5009
I declare the honor pledge
1 comment:
This is indeed a wonderful piece. It personifies virtually everything modern art rebelled against at the turn of the 20th century. There is classical narrative, realistic painting of a high order and moral instruction all rolled into one piece.
Only now are young artists going back to this type of academic painting as they discover narrative and versimilitude again.
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