''Exemplary Women of Antiquity'' is a set of paintings produced between 1495 and 1500 by Andrea Mantegna. They show the Carthaginian noblewoman Sophonisba poisoning herself to avoid being paraded in a Roman triumph, the Roman Vestal Virgin

Tuccia Tuccia (3rd-century BC ), was an ancient Roman Vestal Virgin. She is known for an incident in which her chastity was questioned by a spurious accusation. In Tuccia's case, she utilized a flat perforated basket to carry water, without the water fal ...

proving her chastity by carrying water in a sieve, Judith with the head of Holofernes and

Dido Dido ( ; , ), also known as Elissa ( , ), was the legendary founder and first queen of the Phoenician city-state of Carthage (located in modern Tunisia), in 814 BC. In most accounts, she was the queen of the Phoenician city-state of Tyre (t ...

holding

Sychaeus Acerbas was a Tyrian priest of Hercules (that is, Melqart, the Tyrian Hercules), who married Elissa, the daughter of king Mattan I, and sister of Pygmalion. He was possessed of considerable wealth, which, knowing the avarice of Pygmalion, wh ...

's funeral urn. Infrared reflectography has uncovered a signature on the back of ''Judith'' reading ''And.a Mantegnia. .'' (Andrea Mantegna painted t. ''Sophonisba'' and ''Tuccia'' are egg-tempera on poplar panel, whilst ''Judith'' and ''Dido'' are glue-tempera on linen canvas. All four works are in

monochrome A monochrome or monochromatic image, object or palette is composed of one color (or values of one color). Images using only shades of grey are called grayscale (typically digital) or black-and-white (typically analog). In physics, monochrom ...

or grisaille and imitate relief sculpture, a style very popular in the

Mantua Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard language, Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture ...

n court at the time thanks to the expense of importing marble from neighbouring Italian states and the lack of sculptors at court. Another example was the same artist's ''

The Introduction of the Cult of Cybele at Rome ''The Introduction of the Cult of Cybele at Rome'' is a glue-tempera on canvas painting measuring 73.5 cm by 268 cm. It was produced in 1505–1506 by Andrea Mantegna and is now in the National Gallery in London. Like much of Mantegna's output aft ...

'' from around the same times. ''Tuccia'' and ''Sophonisba'' originally had the same dimensions.

History

All four were attested in the inventory of the belongings of Federico II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, produced in 1542 two years after his death. In 1738 they were next mentioned in an inventory of marshal Schulenburg's collection, though sometimes the paintings are mentioned with dimensions that do not match the current dimensions of any of the four works. They were separated into two pairs at a

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...

auction on 13 April 1775, with ''Tuccia'' and ''Sophonisba'' entering the

Duke of Hamilton Duke of Hamilton is a title in the Peerage of Scotland, created in April 1643. It is the senior dukedom in that peerage (except for the Dukedom of Rothesay held by the Sovereign's eldest son), and as such its holder is the premier peer of Sco ...

's collection and ''Judith'' and ''Dido'' sold to John Taylor. The two paintings in the Hamilton collection were sold to the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...

in London in 1882 when that collection was dispersed, whilst those originally bought by Taylor were sold in 1912 and after a couple of changes of ownership entered the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

References

{{Andrea Mantegna category:Collections of the National Gallery, London category:1500 paintings category:Paintings by Andrea Mantegna category:Gonzaga art collection Paintings in the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts