Group Endeavors - III

Hieronymus Francken III
Massacre of the Innocents
ca. 1640
oil on panel
Staatsgalerie im Schloss Johannisburg, Aschaffenburg

Anonymous German Artist
The Immaculate Conception and Her Defenders
ca. 1490-95
oil on panel (altarpiece)
Historisches Museum, Frankfurt

Juan de Juanes
Procession to Monte Gargano
ca. 1570
oil on panel
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Pau

Johann Friedrich Overbeck
Joseph sold by his Brothers
1817
detached fresco
(originally  in Casa Bartholdy in Rome)
Alte Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Giovanni Andrea de Ferrari
Joseph sold by his Brothers
ca. 1640
oil on canvas
Galleria Nazionale di Parma

Giovanni Francesco Romanelli
The Stoning of Stephen
before 1662
drawing
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Anonymous German Artist
Christ with Disciples
ca. 1625-50
hand-colored woodcut
Herzog August Bibliothek, Wulfenbüttel

Jean-Jacques Lagrenée
Vestals conducting a Sacrifice
1776-77
oil on panel
private collection

Jacob de Wit
Vestal Virgins tending an Altar
1749
oil on canvas (grisaille)
Musée Ingres Bourdelle, Montauban

Enea Vico after Perino del Vaga
Ancient Roman Sacrifice
1542
engraving
Hamburger Kunsthalle

Andries Cornelis Lens
Scene of Ancient Sacrifice
ca. 1770
drawing
Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp

Anton Kern
Sacrificial Scene
1747
oil on canvas
Belvedere Museum, Vienna

Fortunato Duranti
Antique Religious Ritual
ca. 1820
drawing
Morgan Library, New York

Jean Restout the Younger
Exaltation of the Cross
1748
oil on canvas
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon

Giambattista Moroni
The Calumny of Apelles
ca. 1565-75
oil on canvas
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nîmes

Monogrammist AP
Perseus and the Nymphs
ca. 1800
oil on canvas
Belvedere Museum, Vienna

[A carriage is seen approaching. Seated in it is the Queen, magnificently attired and attended. The Chorus rise.]

Chorus of Persian Elders:

But look, here comes the mother of the King,

my Queen, a light as brilliant as that which shines

in the eyes of the gods! I fall down before her –
 
[The Chorus prostrate themselves.]

All hail, my Queen, most exalted among the slim-waisted women of Persia, venerable mother of Xerxes and wife of Darius! You were the spouse of one who was a god to the Persians, and you are the mother of their god too, unless our old protecting power has now changed sides against our army.

Queen:  It is for that reason that I have come here, leaving my gold-bedecked palace and the bedchamber I once shared with Darius, and that my heart is torn by anxiety. I will tell you a saying which is not my own creation but has come down from our ancestors and which causes me to be very fearful, my friends, that great wealth may make the dust rise from the ground by tripping up* the prosperity that Darius, not without the aid of some god, had built up. For that reason there is in my mind an indescribable anxiety, a twofold one. For those who are without wealth, the light of success does not shine in proportion to their physical power; but neither do men revere and honour an accumulation of wealth without men to defend it.** Our wealth is ample, but I fear for our very eye; for I consider the master, when present, to be the eye of his house. In view of this, considering the situation to be as I have said, be my counsellors about this matter, you venerable, trusty Persians; for all the good advice I receive comes from you.

– Aeschylus, from Persians (472 BC), translated by Alan H. Sommerstein (2008)

*literally, "overturning with its foot," a metaphor from wrestling; the dust rises because the tripped man has fallen heavily, probably on his back

**in other words, human and material resources are alike essential to the acquisition and maintenance of political power, and a regime that is strong in only one of these respects may well be in danger