John Singer Sargent's Orestes
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Orestes 
John Singer Sargent -- American painter  
1922–25 
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Colonnade
Stairway Side Aisle mural
Near the Rotunda

Oil on canvas 
347.98 x 317.5 cm (137 x 125 in.) 
Francis Bartlett Donation of 1912 and Picture 
Fund 25.645 
 Jpg: MFA
 
 

Here we see Orestes haunted by Furies, the goddesses of vengeance. 
 

From:  World Book Online Americas Edition 

Orestes, in Greek mythology, was the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, the rulers of Mycenae, or Argos. Clytemnestra and her lover, Aegisthus, killed Agamemnon after he returned from the Trojan War. Fearing that Orestes was also in danger, his sister Electra sent him from the royal palace.  

When Orestes was grown up, the god Apollo ordered him to avenge his father's death by killing Clytemnestra. Orestes returned home and killed his mother and Aegisthus. He then was driven insane by the Furies, the goddesses of vengeance. Orestes finally went to Athens. There, a jury found him innocent of manslaughter and freed him from his guilt and the Furies. Orestes later married Hermione, the daughter of Helen of Troy and Menelaus, the king of Sparta.  

("Orestes," World Book Online Americas Edition, http://www.aolsvc.worldbook.aol.com, June 8, 2001.) 
 

Notes:

Provenance:
The artist; commissioned by the MFA in 1921 and installed on ceiling side aisle, Huntington Avenue stairway, 1925.

  • See the year in review 1922
 
Stairway Ceiling Decorations 
Looking straight up


Museum of Fine Arts, Boston




Sketch for Orestes
1921–25


Sketch for Orestes - Clytemestra
1921–25


Sketch for Orestes - Clytemnestra
1921–25


Sketch for Orestes - Heads and Arms of Furies
1921–25


Sketch for Orestes and the Furies - Details
Date?


Sketch for Orestes and the Furies - Eight Small Studies
Date?


 

By:  Natasha Wallace
Copyright 1998-2005 all rights reserved
Created 6/8/2001