Romana der jungen frawen · Centre for Early Modern Visual Culture

Title: Romana der jungen frawen
Subject: Important Women; Famous Women; Filial Devotion
Period: 1500-1550;
Geographic: Ancient Rome; Italy
Description: This engraving depicts the story of a young Roman woman who saved her mother from starving to death. Boccaccio explains that this unknown woman’s mother had been sentenced to death, and when she was locked away to die of starvation, her daughter saved her with her own breast milk. The girl and her mother are depicted behind the window of the jail cell as the mother drinks the milk of her daughter’s breast. The men that are standing guard outside the prison cell seem unconcerned and relaxed. One of them is leaning against the wall while the other one is sitting and sharpening a stick with an axe. They are unsuspecting of the young woman because they searched her every time that she visited her mother and she never seemed to carried food with her. Boccaccio believed this woman to be praiseworthy because of the woman’s filial devotion to save her mother.
Image Creator: Joerg Breu (Engraver)
Type: Text; Woodcut Engraving
Identifier: mta:18366
Language: ger
Source Name: Ein schöne Cronica oder Hystoribuch von den fürnämlichsten Weybern [A beautiful chronicle or history book of reputable women]
Parent Collection: 1543 Stayner; 1543 Stayner
Image: mta_18366_OBJ.jpg
Collection: Early Modern Women
Subject: Important Women; Famous Women; Filial Devotion