The Suicide of Portia
ca. 1612–16
Medium
Etching with stippling and engraving
Dimensions
Sheet (trimmed): 9 7/16 × 7 1/4 in. (24 × 18.4 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Phyllis Massar, 2011
Accession Number
2012.136.6
Tags
Art Historical Context
Jacques Bellange’s * Suicide of Portia* a poignant moment from Roman history, showing the wife of Brutus taking her own life after learning of her husband’s defeat. Created around 1612–1616, the etching draws on classical themes of loyalty, grief, and stoic resolve that resonated deeply in early seventeenth-century Europe. The composition centers on Portia’s solitary figure, conveying quiet despair through expressive gestures and a somber atmosphere. Bellange worked in the medium of etching combined with stippling and engraving, techniques that allowed him to achieve delicate tonal gradations...
About the Artist
Jacques Bellange · 1570–1616
Jacques Bellange (c. 1575–1616) was a French artist and printmaker active in the independent Duchy of Lorraine, now part of France. Believed to have been born in the Bassigny region south of Nancy, his early life and training remain sparsely documented, with no records of specific teachers or mentors. He first appears in historical records in 1595 at La Mothe, where he took on an apprentice, sugge...