Orestes avenges the murder of his father Agamemnon by his mother Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus by killing them both.
[2] In the moment captured in the painting, Orestes looks down in horror at the bodies of the couple he has just murdered, while around him crowd the Erinyes.
By painting both Orestes and Clytemnestra nude, Baader demonstrated his mastery of anatomy to the Academy and appealed to the public at the Salon, who were fond of sensual nudity.
[3][4] After restoration it was loaned to the Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung in Munich for the 2017-18 special exhibition Gut · Wahr · Schön.
[1] Lucien Dubois praised the canvas for its drawing technique and use of colour, but complained that, like most allegorical paintings, its meaning was not clear.