Cimon and Iphigenia

Maker George Romney (British, 1734-1802)

ClassificationsDRAWINGS

Daten.d.

Mediumpen and brush and brown ink over traces of graphite on laid paper [graphite pencil sketch of woman's face on verso]

Dimensions10 3/4 × 9 1/2 in. (27.3 × 24.1 cm.)

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. Sir Bruce Ingram Collection

Status

Not on view

Label TextFor Romney, drawing was not simply a tool used to develop the compositions of oil paintings, but a vehicle for expressing the imagination. This scene depicts a story from Boccaccio’s Decameron. The rich but boorish Cimon, forced to work as a shepherd by his father, discovers Iphigenia, asleep in a glade with two other women, and falls immediately in love with her. Romney depicts the moment that the shepherd, just visible at left, spies the women (shown embracing). While the text focuses on the transforming power of love (Cimon reforms to win Iphigenia’s affection), Romney emphasizes the scene’s eroticism, with its voyeuristic overtones (2022).

Object number63.52.206

Terms