Brutus and Portia is a painting in tempera on panel of c. 1486–1490 by Ercole de' Roberti in the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, which acquired it in 1986. It shows Caesar's assassin Marcus Junius Brutus and his wife Porcia.[1]
Brutus and Portia | |
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Artist | Ercole de' Roberti |
Year | c. 1486–1490 |
Medium | Tempera, possibly oil, and gold on panel |
Dimensions | 48.7 cm × 34.3 cm (19.2 in × 13.5 in) |
Location | Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth |
This panel, Brutus, Lucretia and Collatinus and The Wife of Hasdrubal and Her Children were originally part of a series of works depicting famous women of antiquity, probably commissioned by Ercole I d'Este's wife Eleanor of Aragon and referring back to the motto of her father, Ferdinand I of Naples: "Preferisco la morte al disonore" ('I prefer death to dishonor').[2]
References
edit- ^ Catalogue entry
- ^ Fern Rusk Shapley, Catalogue of the Italian Paintings, 2 vols., Washington, D.C., 1979: 1:410