The Sacrifice of Iphigenia
1789
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
26 7/8 × 18 in. (68.3 × 45.7 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Department
European Paintings
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 2015
Accession Number
2015.46
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the dramatic oil on canvas *The Sacrifice of Iphigenia* (1789), Gaetano Gandolfi captures a pivotal moment from Greek mythology. The painting depicts the young Iphigenia, daughter of Agamemnon, spared at the altar by the goddess Diana (Artemis in Greek lore), who substitutes a deer in her place to appease the gods and allow the Greek fleet to sail for Troy. Flanking the scene are playful putti—cherubic figures common in Italian art—adding a touch of whimsy amid the tension. Gandolfi, a Bolognese painter of the late 18th century, bridges Baroque drama and emerging Neoclassicism with his flu...
About the Artist
Gaetano Gandolfi · 1734–1802
Gaetano Gandolfi (1734–1802) was an Italian painter and draughtsman who, together with his older brother Ubaldo Gandolfi, represented the finest flowering of the Bolognese school during the eighteenth century. Born in San Matteo della Decima, he trained in Bologna under Felice Torelli and Ercole Lelli before entering the Accademia Clementina, the leading artistic institution in the city, where he ...