According to Ovid's Fasti and Livy's History of Rome, the noble matron Lucretia committed suicide after being raped by Sextus, son of the tyrant Tarquin the Proud. Her husband, and later Junius Brutus, avenged her honor by leading a revolt that helped institute the republic as a form of government. The artist recast the heroic early Roman legend to focus on the rhetorical gesture of Lucretia as a model of sublime virtue, heightening the drama of her death. The pose for the monumental female figure was clearly inspired by a Roman sculpture. This is a major example of Raphael's draftsmanship, made during the period of his work on the frescoes of the Stanza della Segnatura in the Vatican Palace. The drawing shows Raphael at his most classical, having already absorbed the influence of the many Roman remains he encountered when he came to Rome in 1508. The sculptural grandeur and monumentality of form evident here reflect this experience.

William Russell (British, 1800–1884 London); Christie's, London, December 11, 1884, lot 410; Sir James Knowles, K.C.V.O. (Reigate, Surrey 1831–1908 Brighton); Christie's, London, May 27–29, 1908, lot 167 (to Dunthorne); Private Collection, Montreal

Winter Exhibition of Drawings by the Old Masters and Water-Colour Drawings by Deceased Artists of the British School Exh. cat., London, Grosvenor Gallery, 1877-78. Grosvenor Galleries, London, 1877-1878, fig. no. no. 632, ill.

Julien Stock "A Drawing by Raphael of "Lucretia" Burlington Magazine. July, July, 1984, cat. no. July 1984, fig. no. fig. 49, pp. 423-424, ill.

Marzia Faietti, Konrad Oberhuber Bologna e l'umanesimo 1490-1510 Exh. cat., Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna and Graphische Sammlung Albertina. Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna, Bologna, 1988, cat. no. 98, fig. no. pl. XXVII, pp. 320-321, ill.

David Landau, Peter Parshall The Renaissance Print. New Haven, CT, 1994, fig. no. 114, p. 119, ill.

Gunnar Eliasson, Ulla Eliasson Företagandets konst, Om Konstproduktionen i renässansens Florens. Stockholm, 1997, cat. no. 9, fig. no. 9, ill.

"Recent Acquisitions: A Selection: 1997-1998" Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 56, no. 2, New York, Fall 1998, p. 18, ill.