Iphigenie - Historical Context

Historical Context

During the 17th century, the legend of Iphigenia was popular amongst playwrights. The lost painting of Timanthus from Ancient Greece copied in a first century fresco in Pompeii was one of the most celebrated representations of the sacrifice of Iphigenia from antiquity, to which Cicero, Quintillian, Valerius Maximus and Pliny the Elder all made reference. The aesthetic impact of the painting was such that it was even cited by the Abbé d'Aubignac in his celebrated "Theatrical Practice", published in 1657 and annotated by Racine. He wrote that in order to depict the sacrifice of Iphigenia one should imitate the different degrees of grief amongst those present: the sadness of the Greek princes, the extreme affliction on Menelaus' face, Clytemnestra's tears of despair, and finally Agamemnon, his face masked by a veil to conceal his sensitive nature from his generals, but by this means to show nevertheless the extent of his grief. In the play Arcas relates to Clytemnestra that at the moment of Iphigenia's sacrifice

« Le triste Agamemnon, qui n'ose l'avouer,

Pour détourner ses yeux des meurtres qu'il présage,

Ou pour cacher ses pleurs, s'est voilé le visage. »

or in very rough translation

"Distraught Agamemnon, daring not to approve,

To ensure that no murders fell under his gaze,

Or to cover his tears, wore a veil on his face."

There are detailed contemporary reports of the first performance at Versailles. André Felibien, secretary of the Royal Academy of architecture, recorded his impressions in a booklet:

After Their Majesties had taken refreshments in a copse to the sound of violin and oboes, all the tables were left to be cleared away ; and the king, having climbed back into his carriage, departed, followed by all his court, to the end of the avenue leading to the Orangerie, where a theatre had been set up. It was decorated as a long verdant avenue along which fountains were interspersed with small delicately crafted rustic grottos. Porcelain vases filled with flowers were arranged on the balustrades crowning the entablature. The basins of the fountains were carved from marble, supported by gilt tritons; and higher up in the basins were even more basins, adorned with large gold statues. The avenue came to an end at the back of the theatre where tents linked up to those covering the orchestra. And beyond that was the avenue of the Orangerie itself, bordered on both sides by orange and pomegranate trees, intermixed with several porcelain vases filled with different flowers. Between each tree there were large candelabras and gold and azure guéridons bearing crystal candlesticks, lit with numerous candles. This avenue ended with a marble portico. The pilasters supporting the cornice were made of lapislazuli and the gate appeared to be wrought in gold. In the theatre, decorated as just described, the royal troupe of actors performed the tragedy of Iphigénie, the latest work by Monsieur Racine, which received from the entire court the approval which has always been accorded to this author's plays.