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Preview image of work. pen and grey ink, brush and black ink over graphite on wove paper,  Hector Chiding Paris 1411
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1918.1

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Hector Chiding Paris

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Artist

John Flaxman (York, England, 1755 - 1826, London, England)

Title

Hector Chiding Paris

Creation Date

1792-1793

Century

18th century

Dimensions

8 3/8 in. x 12 1/8 in. (21.27 cm. x 30.8 cm.)

Object Type

drawing

Creation Place

Europe, United Kingdom

Medium and Support

pen and grey ink, brush and black ink over graphite on wove paper

Credit Line

Museum Purchase, Classical Fund

Copyright

Public Domain

Accession Number

1918.1

This drawing by the English Neoclassical sculptor and illustrator John Flaxman conjures a scene from Homer’s “Iliad”, the first book the artist illustrated to great acclaim. (His later projects included Dante’s “Divine Comedy,” and Aeschylus.) Commissioned by Mrs. Hare-Naylor in 1792 or 1793 and created in Rome, Flaxman’s drawing for the “Iliad” shows the Trojan leader Hector chastising Paris for defending Troy haphazardly. Flaxman used this drawing as a preparatory study for the published engraving of the encounter. The final work is simplified even further, as it drops Helen’s maids and presents the nude, effeminate Paris resting on a bow, his head lowered in shame. Flaxman’s drawings of classical scenes and his designs for Josiah Wedgwood’s ceramic wares sparked a craze throughout Europe for his silhouetted figures, which Flaxman had developed from engravings of Greek vases.

Keywords: figures (representations)   work on paper   master drawing   nude(s)   mythological   costume   disguise   feminization   figurative   gender   Homer   idealization   Iliad   illustration   image of armor   image of chair   image of Klismos   image of shield   image of upholstery   line drawing   literature   man   narrative   Neoclassicism   Phrygean cap   spear   study   uniform   war   woman   reference to antiquity   bow (weapon)   image of spear   related to Troy (ancient kingdom)   Homer (Greek author)   Illiad