The Sacrifice of Iphigenia

Pietro Testa|Giovanni Giacomo De Rossi

ca. 1640–42 · Etching with drypoint · Drawings and Prints

The Mycenaean king Agamemnon was chosen, together with his brother Menelaus—Helen's aggrieved husband—to lead the Greeks in the war against Troy, but unfavorable winds prevented the ships from setting sail. Consulting a seer, the soldiers learned that Agamemnon had offended Diana by killing a doe sacred to the goddess, who could be appeased only through the sacrifice of his daughter Iphigenia. The girl was lured from home with a false promise of marriage to Achilles, depicted at right, who was angered that his name had been used to deceive her and offered to fight on her behalf. Although the maiden instead heroically consented to the sacrifice, the goddess took pity on her: shrouding the site, Diana substituted a deer and carried off Iphigenia. The copper plate for the print is in the Calcografia Nazionale in Rome (inv.989). A painting of the same subject by Testa (with minor differences) is in the Galleria Spada in Rome (inv. 312).

Artist

Pietro Testa|Giovanni Giacomo De Rossi

Date

ca. 1640–42

Medium

Etching with drypoint

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1926