During the destruction of Troy, one of the most heinous actions was that of violence against Cassandra – daughter of King Priam and priestess of Apollo – by Ajax the Lesser, one of the warriors under Agamemnon’s command.
Cassandra had taken refuge in the Temple of the goddess Athena, but the Greeks killed the few remaining guards and entered the Temple, where Ajax forcibly tore Cassandra from the altar of Athena.
The scene is represented here by Solomon Joseph Solomon, who in 1896, the year the canvas was made, became a member of the Royal Academy. The painting is probably the most ambitious acquisition of the Art Gallery of Ballarat, in Australia, in the first years of its existence.
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