Panthea Stabs Herself beside the Corpse of Abradatas
Medium
Brown ink, ink washes, and black chalk on white laid paper
Dimensions
8 1/4 x 12 3/16 in. (21 x 31 cm)
Classification
Drawing
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Cephas G. Thompson, 1887
Accession Number
87.12.167 recto
Tags
Art Historical Context
Benjamin West, a pioneering American artist born in Pennsylvania in 1738, masterminded this poignant drawing, *Panthea Stabs Herself the Corpse of Abratas*. The scene draws from Xenophon's ancient *Cyropaedia*, recounting the tragic loyalty of Panthea, wife of the Median king Abradatas. After her husband's heroic death in battle, she takes her own life in grief beside his body—a neoclassical nod to virtue, sacrifice, and profound emotion. West, who later became a leading history painter in England and second president of the Royal Academy, often explored such grand historical and literary them...
About the Artist
Benjamin West · 1738–1820
Benjamin West, born on October 10, 1738, in Springfield, Pennsylvania, emerged as one of the most influential painters of his era despite being entirely self-taught. Growing up in a Quaker family in colonial America, West displayed prodigious talent from childhood, creating portraits and religious scenes with materials gifted by local patrons. By his late teens, he had garnered enough support to t...