Naples collection

This sketch, known in Italian as modello, is a design for a larger unknown canvas. It was common practice for artists to make preparatory drawings and oil sketches to work out their composition, and to show their art to possible purchasers. The composition is taken from Homer's lliad and shows Priam, King of Troy, begging Achilles to accept a ransom for the body of his son Hector, killed in a duel by the Achaean hero. Concurrently, Priam received an Olympian courier who informed him that Achilles' rage would be assuaged both by the offer of fine gifts and by a request for mercy. He was then instructed to enter the Achaean camp and Achilles' quarters accompanied not by any soldiers but with old men. Following the story, Solimena sets the encounter in a nocturnal light, portraying elderly figures shrouded in their mantles. The one in the foreground is depicted with outstretched arms, and the other two with their arms crossed over their chests in a gesture reminiscent of Christian supplication. In the centre of the composition is the old Priam, with folded hands and bowed head, praying with his eyes to the mighty Achilles. The expressions, the poses, and the oblique light coming from the tent opening to the left guide the observer's gaze towards the outstretched arm and inverted palm of the benevolent Achilles, dressed in a feathered helmet, tight-fitting blue robe, golden sandals, and wrapped in an ochre cloak. While there is no trace of the larger canvas of Priam, King of Troy, begging Achilles for the Body of Hector, both the larger canvas of its pendant (CVCSC:0243.S) and the sketch (CVCSC:0270.2.S) depicting Venus with lapyx tending the Wounded Aeneas are in Compton Verney’s collection.