| Cymon and Iphigenia | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | John Everett Millais |
| Year | 1848 |
| Type | Oil on canvas, history painting |
| Dimensions | 114.3 cm× 147.3 cm(45.0 in× 58.0 in) |
| Location | Lady Lever Art Gallery, Merseyside |
Cymon and Iphigenia is an 1848 oil painting by the British artist John Everett Millais. Drawn from the poetry of John Dryden which was itself inspired the Renaissance work The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio, it shows the beautiful Iphigenia encountering the young nobleman Cymon in the woods.
Contents
The painting was .ade when Millais was eighteen and produced shortly before he joined the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood although William Holman Hunt assisted with the drapery. [1] It is stylistically close to the work of William Etty who was well-known for his nude art during the Regency and early Victorian era. Millais submitted the work to the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1848 held at the National Gallery, but it was rejected by the banging committee. Within a year Millais came to regret the stylistic choice of the painting. [2] A self-conscious Millais did not submit another nude scene until The Knight Errant in 1870. [3]
Today the painting is in the collection of the Lady Lever Art Gallery, having been allocated to the gallery after been accepted in lieu by the government in 2004. [4]
