Achilles Dipped into the River Styx
Artist
Peter Paul Rubens and Workshop
(Flemish, 1577 - 1640)
Datec. 1630-1635
CultureFlemish
MediumOil on panel
ClassificationPaintings
Credit LineBequest of John Ringling, 1936
Object numberSN221
Thetis dips her infant son Achilles into the river Styx as protection against the early death prophesized for him. Only the heel by which she holds him remains vulnerable and is where an arrow will strike and kill this future hero of the Trojan War. This scene is the first in a series of eight works on the life of Achilles that was made into tapestries. Following a bozzetto, or first sketch, this modello would be the master's autograph model that studio assistants would use to make full-scale painted cartoons from which the tapestries would then be made.
On View
Not on viewFrame: 55 x 47 1/4 in. (139.7 x 120 cm)
