Guido Reni (Italian, Bologna 1575–1642 Bologna), Lucretia, 1640–1642. Oil on canvas, 35 13/16 × 28 3/4 in. (91 × 73 cm). Roma, Musei Capitolini, Pinacoteca Capitolina © Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali – Musei Capitolini, Rome

The distinctive character of Reni’s late paintings has led them to be central topics in recent debates about unfinished works from the seventeenth century. Reni’s contemporaries recognized that his later works are more delicate and softer, painted more freely with less finished surfaces, than his earlier output. These works, however, must be differentiated from those he left genuinely unfinished; Lucretia and others appear in the inventory made at his death as abbozzi (sketches) or not yet finished. Remarkably, the incomplete works were readily collected and displayed after the artist died. When Reni’s heir gave patrons a choice of receiving a refund or accepting unfinished paintings, the biographer Malvasia reported that "there were few who did not more willingly accept the sketches than the money." Lucretia was one of the founding works of the Pinacoteca Capitolina. 

This work is exhibited in the “Unfinished: Thoughts Left Invisible” exhibition, on view through September 4th, 2016. #MetBreuer