Orestes pursued by the Furies
1878
Poor Orestes can't catch a break in this dramatic 1878 scene by Fernand Lematte! After avenging his father by killing his own mother, he's now being haunted by the Furies—three terrifying goddesses of vengeance who refuse to let him sleep. Notice the woman with snakes wrapped around her arm and the one brandishing a torch; they're literally dragging his sanity away into the clouds while a poor little monkey cowers in the corner. It's a perfect example of Academic art, where mythological drama is dialed up to eleven with muscular figures and intense emotional expressions.
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