" The Ghost of Clytemnestra Awakening the Furies " , By Artist John Downman (1750 - 1824)

" The Ghost of Clytemnestra Awakening the Furies " ,  John Downman

John Downman (1750 - 1824) - Welshportrait painter, who also painted genre paintings on historical themes. " The Ghost of Clytemnestra Awakening the Furies " is one such work.

In Greek mythology, Clytemnestra was the daughter of Tyndareus and Leda the Swan, the king and queen of Sparta, according to Greek mythology. She was half-sister of Helen. King of Mycenae Agamemnon and Clytemnestra had a son named Orestes as one of their offspring. Menelaus, who wed Helen, regarded as the most beautiful lady in the world, had an older brother named Agamemnon.

Agamemnon and his brother Menelaus travelled to Troy to battle for Helen's return after she was abducted and transported there. Aegisthus, the husband's cousin, was Clytemnestra's lover when she got home, and the two of them conspired to kill Agamemnon. Clytemnestra trapped Agamemnon in a net in the bathroom when he came back, and Aegisthus murdered him with a double-edged axe.

 " The Ghost of Clytemnestra Awakening the Furies " , John Downman, 1781 Oil on canvas. Size: 51×65 cm. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven