Artwork Page for The Sacrifice of Polyxena

Details / Information for The Sacrifice of Polyxena

The Sacrifice of Polyxena

1667

Gerard de Lairesse

(Flemish, 1641–1711)
Culture
Netherlands
Medium
etching
Measurements
Platemark: 30.5 x 38.7 cm (12 x 15 1/4 in.); Sheet: 33.1 x 41.4 cm (13 1/16 x 16 5/16 in.)
Credit Line
L. E. Holden Fund 2021.169
Catalogue raisonné
Hollstein 52
State
II/VI
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print
?

Did You Know?

Gerard de Lairesse was called the “Dutch Poussin” for his role in bringing a French artistic style to the Netherlands in the late 1600s.

Description

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 his interest in French art of the same period.
A horizontally oriented print in black ink depicts a woman kneeling centrally, looking upward. Behind her, a robed figure holds a knife to her throat while another holds a shallow bowl. Left, a soldier leans against a pedestal near a fluted column and cauldron. A horse rears in the middle ground behind them. Fortified walls and mountains appear in the distance under a cloudy sky, with an inscription at the lower right.

The Sacrifice of Polyxena

1667

Gerard de Lairesse

(Flemish, 1641–1711)
Netherlands

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