Pieter Fris

Georg Ahlemeyer, Berlin and Herzogenrath Castle;

His estate sale, Cologne, Lempertz, 23 March 1909, lot 138 (as Death of Desdemona);

N.J.W. Smallenburg van Stellendam, The Hague;

By whom sold, Amsterdam, Frederik Muller, 6 May 1913, lot 32;

Mademoiselle W. Bringenberg, Bunnik;

By whom sold, Amsterdam, Frederik Muller, 17 June 1925, lot 205;

Julia Ginzkey-Culp (1880-1970), Czechoslovakia and Amsterdam;

By whom sold, Amsterdam, Frederik Muller, 3-10 July 1951, lot 575;

Private collection, Alkmaar, Netherlands;

From whom acquired by the current owner.

This classical subject, taken from Livy's History of Rome, relates how following Lucretia's rape, she took her own life, committing suicide in the presence of her husband and father in order to preserve her honor. At some point in the twentieth century the blood that originally flowed from her self-inflicted wound was painted over, possibly in an attempt to make the violent image more palatable to collectors.

The painting was once owned by the world renowned singer, Julia Ginzkey-Culp.