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Priam Supplicating Achilles for the Body of Hector

ca. 1815–25
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 554
In The Iliad Homer tells of King Priam of Troy visiting the tent of the Greek hero Achilles to beg him for the body of his eldest son, the great warrior Hector, whom Achilles had killed and then dragged back to his camp. Achilles, attended here by one of his warriors, Automedon or Alcimus, took pity on the old king and ordered the corpse to be bathed and returned to him. Girometti turned again to Bertel Thorvaldsen, this time creating a capital stripped-down version, with several variations, of the sculptor’s marble relief of 1815 at Woburn Abbey. The purplish ground provides a magisterial backdrop for the white figures.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Priam Supplicating Achilles for the Body of Hector
  • Artist: Giuseppe Girometti (Italian, Rome 1780–1851 Rome)
  • Date: ca. 1815–25
  • Culture: Italian, Rome
  • Medium: Onyx, gold
  • Dimensions: Overall (in setting): 1 15/16 x 2 1/4 in. (4.9 x 5.7 cm); visible cameo, overall: 1 5/8 x 1 7/8 x 7/16 in. (4.1 x 4.7 x 1.1 cm), 40.8 x 47.4 x 11.4 mm
  • Classification: Lapidary Work-Gems
  • Credit Line: The Milton Weil Collection, 1940
  • Object Number: 40.20.40
  • Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

More Artwork

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Nessus Abducting Dejanira, Giuseppe Girometti Italian, Sardonyx, mounted in gold as a pendant, Italian, Rome
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Hiawatha, Edmonia Lewis American, Marble, American
Hiawatha
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1868
Sardonyx cameo of Aurora in a chariot, Sardonyx, gold, Greek or Roman
Sardonyx cameo of Aurora in a chariot
Greek or Roman
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Vase, Blown aventurine overlay glass, American
Vase
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ca. 1855
Head of a maiden, Giuseppe Girometti Italian, Sardonyx, Italian, Rome
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