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Hector taking leave of Andromache: the Fright of Astyanax

Benjamin West American
1766
Not on view
Inspired by book 6 of the Iliad, West shows the Trojan prince Hector armed to fight the besieging Greeks. His wife Andromache clings to her husband's arm and their infant son shrinks from his father's helmet. Rigorously drawn, and boldly shaded in wash and watercolor, the drawing relates to a painting, now lost, exhibited in 1767. The emotionally charged, antique subject responds to the neoclassical taste that captivated artists and aesthetes in Rome, Paris and London at this period. West--a Pennsylvania Quaker who had moved to London--rose to prominence by mastering the new style.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Hector taking leave of Andromache: the Fright of Astyanax
  • Artist: Benjamin West (American, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania 1738–1820 London)
  • Date: 1766
  • Medium: Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash and blue watercolor, touches of gouache (bodycolor), over traces of black chalk
  • Dimensions: 14 x 19 in. (35.6 x 48.3 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Guy Wildenstein Gift, 2000
  • Object Number: 2000.243
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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Study for "Alexander III, King of Scotland, Saved from a Stag by Colin Fitzgerald", Benjamin West American, Pen and brown ink, brown ink washes, black chalk, and graphite on off-white (now oxidized) laid paper., American
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