This artwork, engraved by Karl August Kräutle (1833-1912), was inspired by an earlier painting by Anselm Feuerbach (1829-1880). Their artworks allude to the ancient saga of myths set around the time of the Trojan War. Featured in the art is Iphigenia, daughter of King Agamemnon—the commander-in-chief of the Greeks during the war against the Trojans. As the stories go, in the interim between the abduction of Helen and the subsequent Greek war against the Trojans, the gods demanded a human sacrifice as payment for favorable sailing winds that would carry Agamemnon’s Greek armada off to war. To placate the gods for his expedition, Agamemnon was convinced to offer his own daughter, Iphigenia, as the human sacrifice.
What happened next was complicated. In some accounts, such as that of the playwright, Aeschylus (c. 525-456 BCE), Iphigenia was killed in the sacrificial ceremony. Alternatively, the later poet, Euripides (484-406 BCE), presented a story in which the goddess, Artemis, appeared at the time of the sacrifice and saved Iphigenia. In that tale, Artemis replaced Iphigenia with a sacrificial deer and then clandestinely absconded with the rescued princess. On this scene, Euripides wrote:
“Each one of us distinctly heard the sound of a blow, but none saw the spot where the maiden vanished. The priest cried out, and all the army took up the cry at the sight of a marvel all unlooked for, due to some god’s agency, and passing all belief, although it was seen; for there upon the ground lay a deer of immense size, magnificent to see, gasping out her life, with whose blood the altar of the goddess was thoroughly bedewed“ (Euripides, Iphigeneia at Aulis, approximately lines 1580-1590).
Euripides’ later play, Iphigenia in Tauris, continued his version of Iphigenia’s tale. In that play, it was revealed that Artemis, after the divine intervention at the sacrifice, secretly relocated Iphigenia to a temple in Tauris, where she became a priestess. Artemis, however, did not inform the family of Iphigenia’s survival or her whereabouts, and this had horrific repercussions. Her family believed Iphigenia had been killed, and grudges began to fester among the royals in response to the perceived death. Ultimately, Iphigenia’s mother, Clytemnestra, murdered Agamemnon. In turn, Orestes, prodded by the god Apollo, avenged his father by killing his own mother, Clytemnestra.
Orestes and Iphigenia were eventually reunited in Euripides’ play, Iphigenia in Tauris. As the story goes, Orestes was tasked by Apollo to retrieve a statue of Artemis from the very temple at Tauris that Iphigenia oversaw. Drama ensued when Orestes was caught, and his fate was put in the hands of Iphigenia, who had the power to execute her brother for the sacrilegious attempted-looting of the temple. For Iphigenia, the thought of having to execute her brother was too much for her to bear, so she ultimately decided to defect from her duty as arbiter of the temple laws and instead become an accomplice of Orestes. Together, Iphigenia, Orestes (and his accomplice Pylades) tricked the local population of Tauris, managed to load the temple’s statue on a ship, and successfully sailed away with their holy cargo.
Such is the story of the woman featured in the artwork. Karl August Kräutle and Anselm Feuerbach depicted Iphigenia looking out toward the sea. They likely portrayed Iphigenia at Tauris, perhaps daydreaming about her homeland of Greece. Little did she know that her brother would one day appear at her temple, giving her an opportunity to return home.
Written by C. Keith Hansley
Sources:
- Aeschylus, The Orestia (Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, The Eumenides), translated by Robert Fagles. New York: Penguin Classics, 1979.
- [Euripides, Iphigenia in Aulis] http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0108%3Acard%3D1578
- [Euripides, Iphigenia in Tauris] http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0112%3Acard%3D67
- https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/626359
