The narrative, from left to right, follows the sequence in Livy, 'Ab urbe condita' I, 58–60: Tarquin enters Lucretia's bedroom in order to rape her; she dictates a letter to her husband asking him to return; after his arrival, she commits suicide; the Tarquins are expelled from Rome. Although considerably worn, this painting is an important early 'cassone' panel whose subject celebrates the honour of married women. The pastiglia decoration of fleur-de-lys and lions or leopards refers to the Angevin kings of Naples, suggesting that this painting had a Neapolitan patron or destination. The same composition occurs, with variations, on three other 'cassone' panels from the same workshop. These panels may all have been painted around 1400 in the workshop of the Master of Charles III of Durazzo, the Florentine artist whose name-piece is in the Metropolitan Museum, New York.