Emperor Heraclius Slays the King of Persia

Art Institute of Chicago

Emperor Heraclius Slays the King of Persia

NetherlandishLinkedCulture matchlcp-f6b0d05e5fb4

Date
c. 1470
Medium
Tempera and oil on panel
Culture
Netherlands
Department
Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Institution
Art Institute of Chicago
Object ID
111608

From the Art Institute of Chicago record

This panel was probably part of an altarpiece dedicated to the Holy Cross, a relic that was much venerated in the Middle Ages. Through repeated retelling, its story took on some of the qualities of a chivalric romance. That story included the adventures of the Byzantine emperor Heraclius, who rescued the True Cross and returned it to Jerusalem after its capture by Chosroës, king of Persia. Here Heraclius defeats a king who is probably meant to be the son of Chosroës. The emperor can be identified by the closed imperial crown that caps his helmet, the double-headed eagle symbol on the trumpet and the trappings of his followers’ horses, and the fact that he is about to behead his opponent. This exciting narrative provides an excuse for a vivid display of armor and weaponry.

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Provenance & credit

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Credit line
George F. Harding Collection
Provenance
T. Schiff; sold, his estate sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, Mar. 21–22, 1905, nos. 15 and 18, as sixteenth-century Augsburg School, to Kleinberger along with two other panels from the same narrative cycle now in the Kunstmuseum Basel [annotated sale catalogue in the library of the Cleveland Museum of Art]. George F. Harding, Jr. (d. 1939), Chicago, by 1929 [the paintings were lent to the Art Institute by Harding in 1929; Registrar’s records]; bequeathed to the George F. Harding Museum, Chicago; ownership transferred to the AIC, 1982; accessioned, 1990.

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Object type
AAT300033618

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