11/4/10

George Romney, The Ghost of Darius Appearing to Atossa


National Museums Liverpool, The Walker

Date: c. 1778-1779
Technique: Black chalk on nine sheets of laid paper 1015 x 1270 mm

This scene of bleak supernatural warning illustrates the Greek dramatist Aeschylus’s play The Persians. The defeated Persians suffer at the hands of the conquering Greeks. The lamenting Chorus is suddenly interrupted by the ghost of the former Persian king, Darius, who rises from the grave to tell his people that they can no longer fight the enemy.

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