Editing Polyxena (section)

===Post-classical art===
There was a trickle of images in medieval and Renaissance art, often as illustrations to  [[Boccaccio]]'s ''[[De mulieribus claris]]''.  [[Primaticcio]] painted it in the [[Chateau of Fontainebleau]] (1541–47).  But the subject became more popular in the Baroque, often paired with the [[Continence of Scipio]].  [[Pietro da Cortona]] "established his reputation" with a large painting in 1625 (now [[Pinacoteca Capitolina]], 2.17 × 4.19 m).<ref name="Mylonopoulos, 61">Mylonopoulos, 61</ref>
Examples include paintings [[The Sacrifice of Polyxena (Giovanni Francesco Romanelli)|by Giovanni Francesco Romanelli]] [[The Sacrifice of Polyxena (Charles Le Brun)|and by Charles Le Brun (1647)]], both in the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], New York.  [[Sebastiano Ricci]] planned a large painting in the 1720s, but never got beyond studies.<ref>[https://www.rct.uk/collection/themes/exhibitions/canaletto-and-the-art-of-venice/the-queens-gallery-palace-of-holyroo-2 "''The Sacrifice of Polyxena'' c. 1726–30"], [[Royal Collection]]</ref>  The 18th-century [[Venetian painter]] [[Giovanni Battista Pittoni]] was especially keen on the subject,<ref name="Hall, 249; Aghion et al, 242"/> painting at least nine versions of four compositions.<ref name="Mylonopoulos, 61"/>

Most versions show Polyxena going to her death in a dignified manner, though often with her breasts bared.  The sacrifice may be performed by a priest, or Neoptolemus.  As in Ricci's versions, Achilles' tomb may have an [[equestrian statue]] of him above it, and [[Agamemnon]], who opposed the killing, may be present expressing dissent. Sometimes the ghost of Achilles hovers in the air nearby.<ref name="Hall, 249; Aghion et al, 242"/>

The statue ''The Rape of Polyxena'' by [[Pio Fedi]] (1855–1865) is very prominently displayed in the [[Loggia dei Lanzi]] in Florence. The name does not refer to [[rape|sexual rape]], but to an earlier definition of the word derived from the [[Latin language|Latin]] [[wikt:Special:Search/rapere|''rapere'']] (supine stem ''raptum''), "to snatch, to grab, to carry off".<ref name = "cor">Corinne J. Saunders, ''Rape and Ravishment in the Literature of Medieval England'', Boydell & Brewer, 2001, p. 20.</ref><ref name = "Kei">Keith Burgess-Jackson, ''A Most Detestable Crime: New Philosophical Essays on Rape'', Oxford University Press, New York, 1999, p. 16.</ref> Thus, the statue shows Polyxena's taking to be killed by Neoptolemus, despite the protests of her mother Hecuba, seated. The body on the ground, somewhat anachronistically, is either [[Polites of Troy|her brother Polites]], or possibly Hector.  In most versions, both were killed much earlier, and buried by that point in the various stories.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=E3h2Eb0Q5vAC&pg=PA97 "The Rape of Polyxena"], ''The Illustrated London News'', p. 97, 25 January 1868; [http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/24401 "Tourist breaks a finger off Uffizi’s Rape of Polyxena"], The History Blog</ref>