Orestes forfulgt af erinyerne 1814

This is C.G. Kratzenstein Stub’s rendering of "Orestes pursued by the Furies," a pen and wash drawing made sometime before the artist's death in 1816. Stub, working in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, would have been steeped in the aesthetic and philosophical ideals of the Enlightenment. The drawing depicts Orestes, from Greek tragedy, fleeing the Furies, goddesses of vengeance, for the crime of matricide. Consider the weight of this narrative in an era grappling with ideas of justice, morality, and the consequences of one's actions. Here, the classical subject matter is rendered with a Neoclassical sensibility, characterized by clean lines and an emphasis on idealized forms. But there is also something deeply human in Orestes’ terror, in the relentless pursuit of the Furies. The pursuit evokes the idea of internal conflict, of being haunted by one’s past. What does it mean to be held accountable, not just by society, but by one's own conscience? How do guilt, remorse, and justice intertwine in the theater of our minds?