Exemplary Women of Antiquity

Sophonisba, Tuccia, Judith, Dido.

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 proving her chastity by carrying water in a sieve, Judith with the head of Holofernes and Dido holding Sychaeus's funeral urn. Infrared reflectography has uncovered a signature on the back of Judith reading And.a Mantegnia. P[inxit]. (Andrea Mantegna painted [it]). 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 or grisaille and imitate relief sculpture, a style very popular in the Mantuan 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 from around the same times. Tuccia and Sophonisba originally had the same dimensions.