John Gibson RA, Ulysses forcing Polyxena from Hecuba to be sacrificed

Ulysses forcing Polyxena from Hecuba to be sacrificed

John Gibson RA (1790 - 1866)

RA Collection: Art

A pen and ink drawing of 'Ulysses forcing Polyxena from Hecuba to be sacrificed'. Ulysses is depicted on the left holding a staff in his right hand and holding Polyxena by the wrist. Polyxena leans away from him towards her mother Hecuba, Queen of Troy, who is viewed in profile with her hand outstretched to Ulysses.

This story is related by Euripides in his plays >Hecuba and The Trojan Women in which the Greek hero Ulysses (or Odysseus) takes Polyxena, a Trojan princess, to be sacrificed to appease the ghost of Achilles who had been killed by her brothers.

Gibson's drawing was engraved and published in Imitations of Drawings by John Gibson , R.A. Sculptor, Engraved by G. Wenzel and L. Prosseda, Plate 36.

Object details

Title
Ulysses forcing Polyxena from Hecuba to be sacrificed
Artist/designer
John Gibson RA (1790 - 1866)
Object type
Drawing
Medium
Pen and brown ink on wove paper
Dimensions

176 mm x 315 mm

Collection
Royal Academy of Arts
Object number
05/684
Acquisition
Bequeathed by John Gibson RA 1866
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