The death of Iphigenia.

Drawing, pen and black ink with brown/sepia wash, 43 x 63 cm, cream-toned laid paper with Dutch watermark of ca. 1780 (DC Blauw), unsigned (several sm. spots at upper right, some pigment oxidation of the wash in the figure group around Agamemnon).

Classicist drawing with dramatic figures in an ancient setting. The scene probably represents the sacrifice of Iphigenia. In Greek mythology Agamemnon offended the goddess Artemis on her way to the Trojan War by accidentally killing one of her sacred deers. She retaliated by preventing the Greek troops from reaching Troy unless Agamemnon killed his eldest daughter Iphigenia at Aulis as a human sacrifice. The man on the left can be interpreted as Agamemnon who woefully observes the death of his daugther, held in the hands of Queen Clytemnestra. The frieze-like composition is most likely inspired by those of J.-L. David.