The Rape of Lucretia.

After A de Pieters, engraved by Ch. le Vaßeur Tarquin & Lucretia "Tarquin et Lucrece." Paris Ch. le Vaßeur c1765
Copper engraving of the rape of Lucrece, after the painting by A de Pieters, Pienter de Roi de Danemarck . Engraved by Ch. le Vasseur. Title in French, quotation from Titus Livy in Latin and French. Modern hand colour.
The image shows Tarquin surprising a naked Lucretia and warnig her to remain silent.
The story is found in the Roman historian Livy's History of Rome, According to the story, Lucretia's rape by the Etruscan king's son and consequent suicide were the immediate cause of the revolution that overthrew the monarchy and established the Roman Republic. Good impression with later modern hand colour ; margins trimmed to plate mark; minor chips and tears to uppe & lower margins.

Jean Charles Le Vasseur, (1734-1816).
French line engraver; pupil of Daullé and Beauvarlet; became an Academician in 1771. He engraved chiefly after the works of midern French painters.[ Michael Bryan: Dictionary of painters and engravers, biographical and critical (1886) vol 2].

Johann Anton de Peters (1725 – 1795)
was a German painter and etcher.
Peters was born at Cologne in 1725, and studied in Paris under Greuze. He was raised to the rank of a noble by the king of France, and appointed court painter by the Danish king, Christian IV, as well as by Prince Charles of Lorraine. The Revolution drove him back to his native country, where he lived in poverty, and died at Cologne in 1795.
470 by 520mm (18½ by 20½ inches).   ref: 2690  €750