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The Sacrifice of Iphigenia

Pietro Testa Italian
Publisher Giovanni Giacomo De Rossi Italian
ca. 1640–42
Not on view
The Mycenaean king Agamemnon was chosen, together with his brother Menelaus—Helen's aggrieved husband—to lead the Greeks in the war against Troy, but unfavorable winds prevented the ships from setting sail. Consulting a seer, the soldiers learned that Agamemnon had offended Diana by killing a doe sacred to the goddess, who could be appeased only through the sacrifice of his daughter Iphigenia. The girl was lured from home with a false promise of marriage to Achilles, depicted at right, who was angered that his name had been used to deceive her and offered to fight on her behalf. Although the maiden instead heroically consented to the sacrifice, the goddess took pity on her: shrouding the site, Diana substituted a deer and carried off Iphigenia.
The copper plate for the print is in the Calcografia Nazionale in Rome (inv.989). A painting of the same subject by Testa (with minor differences) is in the Galleria Spada in Rome (inv. 312).

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Sacrifice of Iphigenia
  • Artist: Pietro Testa (Italian, Lucca 1612–1650 Rome)
  • Publisher: Giovanni Giacomo De Rossi (Italian, Rome 1627–1691 Rome)
  • Date: ca. 1640–42
  • Medium: Etching with drypoint
  • Dimensions: Plate: 14 11/16 x 18 1/8 in. (37.3 x 46 cm)
    Sheet: 15 1/4 x 18 3/4 in. (38.8 x 47.7 cm)
  • Classification: Portfolios
  • Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1926
  • Object Number: 26.70.3(43)
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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Vicenzo Billi
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Achilles dragging the body of Hector around the walls of Troy
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The Adoration of the Magi, set before and architectural colonnade
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ca 1650–60
Self portait as an artist, holding a drawing board and implement, Pietro Testa Italian, Etching
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Arnold van Westerhout
ca. 1645
The deluge, figures being pulled from the water, Pietro Testa Italian, Etching
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