The dramatic subject of this sculpture fuses a tragic chain of events from the ancient Greek play, Hecuba, by Euripides into one arresting scene. The sculptor Pio Fedi shows a young Greek warrior, Neoptolemos, carrying away Polyxena, the beloved of his late father Achilleus, who lies lifeless on the ground. Neoptolemos raises a sword, with which he is about to stab the young woman to death for revenge. In vain, her mother, Hecuba, implores him to stop. Fedi created this sculpture as a model for the colossal marble sculpture, Abduction of Polyxena (1856-1866), which was installed in the Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence. Placed amid several very famous Italian sculptures from classical antiquity and the Renaissance, Fedi’s sculpture group became instantly famous itself for its drama and technical mastery, having been carved out of a single block of marble.