With public art collections closed, we are bringing the art to you, exploring highlights and hidden gems from across the country in partnership with Art UK. Today’s pick: Worcester City Museum’s Clytemnestra
Worcester City Museums’ Clytemnestra portrait by the pre-Raphaelite painter John Collier illuminates one of the most enduring of the Greek myths. In order to appease the goddess Artemis and secure favourable passage as he embarked on his Trojan expedition, Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, sacrifices his daughter Iphigenia.
Her grief-stricken mother Clytemnestra was portrayed by Greek tragedians – and by artists for centuries afterwards – as implacable and vengeful, and Collier captures her in the moments following her murder of her husband.
