ANCIENT PAINTING OF THE 18TH CENTURY ROMAN SCHOOL

ANCIENT PAINTING OF THE 18TH CENTURY ROMAN SCHOOL "THE SUICIDE OF PORCIA" Oil on canvas Canvas dimensions 100 X 77 cm Porcia, also known in Italian as Porzia (... – 42 BC), was a Roman noblewoman, daughter of Cato the Younger and his first wife Atilia. She married Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus (a political ally of her father) as her first husband and later Marcus Junius Brutus, her first cousin. According to Plutarch, she inflicted a deep wound on her leg to convince Brutus to make her part of the plans to kill Caesar. She committed suicide before Brutus's death at the Battle of Philippi, reportedly by swallowing burning coals. In Shakespeare's tragedy Julius Caesar, the name is spelled Portia and she is made to die by swallowing fire. She and Brutus had a son, who died as an infant in 43 BC.