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Title
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De Virginea virgine
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Description
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This engraving depicts the tragic fate of a young virgin woman from Rome named Verginia. Boccaccio explains that one of the decemvirs, Appius Claudius, fell madly in love with Verginia. Despite already being betrothed to another man, Claudius devised a plan to have Verginia as his own. Claudius had gotten one of his freedmen (Marcus Claudius) to capture Verginia and claim her as a slave. Verginia’s father, Verginius, went to the trial and protested the sentence of his daughter becoming a slave. Appius Claudius, however, was the judge presiding over the case, and officially decreed Verginia to be a slave. This court trial is depicted on the right side of the engraving, with Claudius sitting on the chair pointing towards Verginia, Verginius, and Verginia’s betrothed, Icilius. Claudius’ name is engraved above his head in order to identify him. After Claudius decrees Verginia to be enslaved, her father takes a knife and stabs her with it as his only way to save her. This is depicted on the left-hand side of the engraving, which illustrates Verginius (his name is engraved above his head) piercing his daughter’s chest (Verginia’s name is engraved by her feet).
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Image Creator
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Anonymous (Engraver)
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Identifier
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mta:11963
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Source Name
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De Claris Mulieribus
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Image
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mta_11963_OBJ.png
mta_11963_OBJ.png