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Details of gondola on a Venice canal
This exhibition is in the past. View our current exhibitions.
SEBASTIANO RICCI (BELLUNO 1659-VENICE 1734)

The Sacrifice of Polyxena

late 1720s

RCIN 907042

The story from Ovid's Metamorphoses tells of the spirit of Achilles visiting the Greeks after the fall of Troy, demanding the sacrifice of Polyxena at his tomb. Polyxena, kneeling on the platform at the centre, is about to be sacrificed by a priest, with a burning pyre behind. Smith owned the painting that resulted from this study, on display nearby.

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