3-021-020 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"The Rape Of Polyxena", by Professor Pio Fedi, in the Loggia at Florence, 1868. 'The subject is taken from the accounts by Virgil in the AEneid, and Euripides in his "Hecuba;" but the sculptor, for greater effect, has combined several tragic events, which are scattered in various parts of the poem and drama, supposing as simultaneous the occurrences which happened at intervals. To avenge the treacherous slaughter of Achilles, which was planned by Hecuba, Pyrrhus having already slain Priam and Polites, afterwards sacrificed Polyxena to appease the wrathful shade of the murdered warrior. The group of Fedi, however, represents Pyrrhus tearing Polyxena from the arms of Hecuba, whilst the lifeless form of the young Polites is stretched at his feet. The maternal anguish of Hecuba, the supplicating terror of the young maiden, the fierce exultation of the warrior, and the convulsive agonies of a violent death, are all rendered in a masterly manner, whilst the contrasts of age and forms between the mature womanhood of Hecuba and the girlish grace of Polyxena's figure - between the nervous vigour of manhood in Pyrrhus and the delicate, boyish beauty of Polites are admirably managed'. From "Illustrated London News", 1868.