# The Sacrifice of Iphigenia [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [FONTEBASSO, Francesco]() - Date: 1701-1750 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 46 x 59 cm ## Commentary This painting is the only known bozzetto for Fontebasso's vast ceiling canvas for the Palazzo Contarini a San Beneto, Venice, where it is still visible in situ. In the Greek mythology Iphigenia was the daughter of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae. Her father lead the Greek forces against Troy. The expedition was at first prevented from sailing by unfavourable winds, so Agamemnon consulted a seer, Calchas. He was told that, because he had killed a stag sacred to Diana, he must propitiate the goddess by sacrificing his daughter to her. Iphigenia accepted her fate out of patriotic motives. According to some, at the last moment Diana substituted a stag for the human victim and carried Iphigenia away to be her priestess. The winds changed and the Greeks were able to sail. ## Related artworks - [Adoration of the Shepherds]() - [Adoration of the Shepherds]() - [Assumption of the Virgin]() - [Ceiling decoration]() - [Family of Darius before Alexander]() - [Mystic Marriage of St Catherine with St Therese]() - [Supplemental scene]() - [Supplemental scene]() - [The Banquet of Zenobia \(detail\)]() - [The Banquet of Zenobia \(detail\)]() - [The Banquet of Zenobia \(detail\)]() - [The Banquet of Zenobia \(detail\)]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()