Paintings of characters from Greco-Roman mythology, such as Danaë and Adonis, were pervasive in European art, but Poppaea Sabina—an historical reference with specific implications—seems to have been the exclusive concern of School of Fontainebleau painters. Why did the French court develop an interest in Poppaea, and what sources did artists use to formulate her unique iconography?
The most complete antique source on Poppaea is the Annals, a chronicle of the Roman Empire in the first century written by the historian Tacitus in the second century. He characterizes Poppaea as an archetypal femme fatale, a shrewd woman who uses her sexual allure to entrap men and augment her power. Tacitus writes that she schemed her way to the imperial throne through marriages, murder plots and illicit affairs, only to be killed when her husband, the emperor Nero, delivered a lethal kick to her pregnant belly.
Tacitus’s negative account of Poppaea was highly influential and would inform perceptions of her into the 16th century.
Figure 1: Roman, Portrait bust thought to represent Poppaea Sabina, 1st century CE, marble, Palazzo Massimo, Rome, Photo by: Romanus_too on Flickr