The Sacrifice of Iphigenia

Iphigenia was the eldest daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. When the Achaean ships were about to set sail from Aulis for Troy and a propitiatory victim was needed for the departure, the sooth-sayer Calchas chose her; With the pretext of a wedding with Achilles, Iphigenia was lured to sacrifice. The gods were moved with pity and transformed her into the goddess Hecate. The sketch for the cur-tain shows the same mythological subject as the ceiling of the Stupinigi residence, which was painted by the same artist, but given a lighter rendering by the pastel colours and the addition of rococo motifs such as the puttini and Diana’s chariot. Crosato started work as a stage designer at the Teatro Regio during his first stay in Turin in 1730-1731. His sketch for the curtain at Teatro Regio may have replaced the previous one for the 1749-1750 season.