Tullia Driving Her Chariot over the Body of Her Father
ca. 1655–70
Medium
Pen and brown ink, brown wash, over black pencil; squared in black chalk.
Dimensions
10 1/2 x 18 3/4 in. (26.6 x 47.6 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Robert Lehman Collection
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
Accession Number
1975.1.398
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the turbulent world of ancient Roman history, as recounted by Livy, Tullia the Younger—daughter of King Servius Tullius— the shocking act of driving her chariot her father's lifeless body to reach her husband, the usurper Tarquin. This dramatic drawing by Ciro Ferri, a prominent Italian Baroque artist active in Rome (ca. 1655–70), captures that infamous moment with visceral intensity. Ferri, pupil of Pietro da Cort, infused his works with the Baroque penchant for theatrical emotion, dynamic movement, and moral complexity, turning classical tales into visually arresting spectacles. Executed...
About the Artist
Ciro Ferri
Ciro Ferri (1634–1689) was an Italian Baroque painter and engraver who served as the principal artistic heir and studio assistant of Pietro da Cortona, the dominant decorative painter of seventeenth-century Rome. Born in Rome, Ferri entered Cortona's workshop as a young man and proved so skilled that he became the master's most trusted collaborator, eventually taking over the completion of major c...