Die Erinnyen vertreiben Alkmaion von der Leiche seiner von ihm getöteten Mutter Eriphyle

1821

not on display
Henry Fuseli1741 Zürich – 1825 Putney Hill/London
We have 117 artworks by Henry Fuseli online.
We have 1824 paintings online.
Eriphyle, bribed by Polynices with the jewels of Harmonia, persuaded her husband Amphiaraos to take part in the campaign of the Seven against Thebes. Amphiaraos was killed in this campaign. Her son Alcmaeon avenged his father by murdering his mother. According to Schiff, Füssli unites memories from Hyginus (Fables, 73) and Statius (Thebais, IV, 187 ff.) in this picture, enriched by a reference to Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales' ('Prologue' of the Woman of Bath). The pose of the dead Eriphyle is borrowed from the dead Clytemnestra on Oreste's sarcophagus (Rome, Vatican Museums). The painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1821. A study dated 1810 is in the Cabinet des dessins du Musée du Louvre (see Michel Régis: Le beau idéal ou l'art du concept. Exhib. cat. Paris, Louvre, 1989, no. 46). The painting is heavily darkened.
Also known as
The Erinyes Drive Alcmaeon from the Corpse of His Mother, Eriphyle, Whom He Has Killed
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
image: 122.5 x 157 cm
Inventory number
2441
Credit line
Kunsthaus Zürich, 1938