The Sacrifice of Polyxena
Medium
etching
Dimensions
sheet: 33.1 × 41.4 cm · platemark: 30.5 × 38.7 cm
Classification
Department
Prints
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
L. E. Holden Fund
Accession Number
2021.169
Tags
male
About this artwork
After the fall of Troy, the Trojan women were divided among the Greeks. Achilles arose from his grave and demanded that Polyxena, the daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba, be slain on his tomb in order to join him in the afterlife. Behind a blindfolded Polyxena who awaits her fate on a sacrificial altar in this image, Achilles appears in warrior’s garb on a rearing horse. Gerard De Lairesse’s figures are firmly modeled, and the space clearly defined with classical architecture, and reflect hi...