0606IphigeniaTauris

0606IphigeniaTauris_West

ogcma@byu

ClCv241

Mastery

MythMatters

Tate Britain
www.artvibrations.com

Benjamin West, "Pylades and Orestes Brought as Victims before Iphigenia," (1766), Tate Britain, no. 126.

H. von Erffa and A. Staley, The Paintings of Benjamin West (New Haven and London, 1986), 260-61, no. 186.

(Click on the artvibrations link for larger image; the Tate site for good background.)

Art-historically: West, first American painter admitted to the Royal Academy, painted this picture in 1763 upon arrival from Italy in England.

A classical painting depicts women on the left and partially unclothed men on the right, in a dramatic scene

A moment from Euripides' Iphigenia in Tauris: Orestes (red) and Pylades are presented to Iphigenia, Artemis' priestess. At Tauris, all strangers are sacrificed on Artemis' altar. Orestes has come from Delphi to fetch the golden cult statue of Artemis (background above), at Apollo's command. Iphigenia, rescued miraculously by Artemis at Aulis, cannot sus-pect this is her brother; nor he that his sister is still alive, the entire Trojan War having intervened. After a moment of miraculous recognition, the three will overwhelm Thoas and escape to Attica with the cult statue.

Euripides' psycho-moralizing drama made the play very popular in the Enlightenment.

OGCMA slides are designed by Roger T. Macfarlane for use in Classical Civilization 241 courses at Brigham Young University and other contexts.
This resource contains information assembled for The Oxford Guide to Classical Mythology in the Arts though OGCMA reference-numbers relate to pages in that valuable work.
Address concerns or inquiries to macfarlane@byu.edu.