|
The story of Virginia is told by Livy. Appius Claudius, a decemvir - one of a board of ten legislators dating from the 5th century B.C. - secretly desired a virgin, the daughter of an honourable centurion. He conspired with one of his dependents to obtain her. The man was to lay claim to the girl as a former slave and bring the case before Appius who would give judgment in the dependants favour. So it fell out, not without an outcry led by Virginia's betrothed. But before the girl could be led away her father snatched a knife from a butcher's shop and stabbed her to death. The theme occurs in Italian Renaissance and Baroque painting, and shows Appius on the judgment seat.
This painting is probably the pendant of another of the same dimensions depicting the death of an ancient heroine: Horatius Slaying His Sister after the Defeat of the Curiatii (private collection).
| 
