Julia gay Cesaris filia · Centre for Early Modern Visual Culture

Title: Julia gay Cesaris filia
Period: 1450-1500;
Geographic: Italy; Ancient Rome
Description: This engraving depicts two separate events. The left side of the engraving depicts Pompey the Great participating in a sacrifice of an animal. Pompey is depicted wearing a crown to signify his high status. The man to the right of Pompey is depicted cutting the neck of the animal that he is holding. There is blood splashing out from the animals wound, which stains Pompey’s clothing. Boccaccio explains that after Pompey’s garments became stained with the animal’s blood, a servant carried his stained clothes back home to get new ones. Julia, Pompey’s wife and the daughter of Julius Caesar, saw the blood-stained clothing of her husband and immediately thought that he had been murdered. Julia is depicted on the right side of the engraving after having just seen the clothing of her husband. She looks distraught and is depicted mid-fall to the ground. There is a servant beside her who is holding the blood-stained garments of her husband.
Image Creator: Anonymous (Engraver)
Type: Text; Woodcut Engraving
Identifier: mta:18226
Language: lat
Source Name: Iohannis Bocacij in librum de claris mulieribus
Parent Collection: 1487 Leuven; 1487 Leuven
Image: mta_18226_OBJ.png
Collection: Early Modern Women
Subject: Julius Caesar; Important Women; Famous Women; Pompey; Julia