Vasari said that Marcantonio Raimondis first engraving after a design by Raphael was the Suicide of Lucretia, but he most likely confused it with the similar but much smaller Suicide of Dido, also engraved by Marcantonio. Following the Didos success Raphael no doubt wished Lucretia to be larger and bolder. The two figures were probably recycled from a group of dancers, perhaps the Muses, projected for a mural decoration; a drawing by Raphael adapted to Lucretia is precisely in the style (...) of his Parnassus studies The hypothesis that Dido and Lucretia were initially conceived as dancers is supported by a montage of the two figures silhouetted and by a glance at contemporary representations of dancing Muses. (shrink)