Feb 23, 2025
Sigismunda Drinking The Poison
Artist: Joseph Edward Southall (English, 1861-1944)
Date: 1896
Medium: Watercolour, pen and ink, and pencil heightened with gold paint on paper
Collection: Birmingham Museums Trust, Birmingham, United Kingdom
Description
Sigismunda or Ghismunda, daughter of Tancredi, Prince of Salerno, married to the Duke of Capua, falls in love with her father's page, Guiscardo. She poisons herself, drinking from the cup in which her father sends her Guiscardo's heart, having murdered him. The story is told in Boccaccio's 'Decameron', (fourth day, first tale).
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