The Sacrifice of Iphigenia
Nicolas Beatrizet,France and Italy (1507-1565). After Francesco Salviati (Italy 1510-1563). Signed N. BEATRIZET LOTARINGVS F. in the plate. Engraving on laid paper, with a shield with the letter M and a six-pointed star watermark, S. 33.2×44.8 cm.
Bartsch 43 from the first state, of two, with the address of the publisher Tramezini. 1553.
PROVENANCE
The collection of Engineer and Major Frank Bensow (1883-1969), with the ink stamp verso (Lugt 982c).
In Greek mythology, Iphigenia was a daughter of King Agamemnon and Queen Clytemnestra, and thus a princess of Mycenae. In the story, Agamemnon offends the goddess Artemis on his way to the Trojan War by hunting and killing one of Artemis’s sacred stags. She retaliates by preventing the Greek troops from reaching Troy unless Agamemnon kills his eldest daughter, Iphigenia, at Aulis as a human sacrifice. In some versions, Iphigenia dies at Aulis, and in others, Artemis rescues her.