Messalina returning from the Bath, 1897. 'Probably intended as an illustration to the VI Satire of Juvenal'. Messalina (died 48 AD) was the wife of the Roman emperor Claudius, and was notorious for her sexual appetite. In the "Sixth Satire", Juvenal describes her nightly excursions from the Imperial Palace to work as a whore in a local brothel. From "The Best of Beardsley" edited by R. A. Walker, [The Bodley Head, London, 1948]

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Photo credit: © Shirley Markham Collection/Heritage Images / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
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