The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 13, 2025

The Sacrifice of Polyxena

1667

Gerard de Lairesse

(Flemish, 1641–1711)
Netherlands
etching
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.)
L. E. Holden Fund 2021.169
Catalogue raisonné: Hollstein 52
Location: Not on view

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.
  • ?-2021
    James Bergquist, Boston, MA, sold to The Cleveland Museum of Art
    December 6, 2021-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Timmers, J. J. M. Gérard Lairesse. Amsterdam: H.J. Paris, 1942. No. 52
    Ackley, Clifford S. Printmaking in the Age of Rembrandt. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1981. cat. no. 173, pp. 252-3.
    Roy, Alain. Gérard de Lairesse, 1640-1711. Paris: Arthena, 1992. Gravures 9
  • {{cite web|title=The Sacrifice of Polyxena|url=false|author=Gerard de Lairesse|year=1667|access-date=13 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2021.169