Getty Museum
The Head of King Priam in Profile
Creator
Gaetano GandolfiItalian Artist · 1734–1802
All works by this person →More on Getty ULAN- Date
- about 1797–1799
- Medium
- Black, red, and white chalks, on grey prepared paper
- Culture
- Italian
- Department
- Drawings
- Institution
- Getty Museum
- Object ID
- 8dfd38d0-8b65-4fc6-a600-363c0303526f
From the Getty Museum record
This sensitively modeled head study by the Bolognese artist Gaetano Gandolfi shows the aging King Priam as he mourns the death of his son, Hector who was killed by Achilles. Although reserved, Priam’s face gives sense of his inconsolable grief. The drawing was made in preparation for a painting depicting a scene from Homer’s epic poem the Iliad when the body of Hector, after having been desecrated by Achilles and his fellow soldiers, is returned to his family. Entitled Andromache’s Lament (Private collection, UK), the painting shows the lifeless body of the fallen Trojan hero in the center surrounded by his loved ones.
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