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Lot Essay
Exquisitely drawn and beautifully colored, Patroclus handing Briseis to the Heralds of Agamemnon was Louis Pellier's presentation at the Salon of 1814. Only recently rediscovered, the painting strongly argues that this little known artist should claim a significant place in the history of Neo-classic painting.
Pellier chose the establishing event of Homer's Iliad for his subject, the moment when the warrior-hero Achilles perceives himself humiliated by the forced relinquishment of his battle prize, the beautiful Briseis. In fury, Achilles withdrew from the Achaians' campaign against Troy and set in motion a chain of deaths and disasters that would ultimately end in a funeral pyre and a challenge to the glorification of war.
In English, the first book of the Iliad is often titled The Wrath of Achilles, an appropriate subtitle for Pellier's painting. Achilles is seated on the left, identified by his powerful physique and golden hair, his magnificent armaments (a gift from the gods), and the grandeur of his 'hut' -- a mark of his successes in the ten years of the Achaians' (Greeks) battles with the Trojans. In the distance are the ships that brought the Achaians to the fields of Troy, and departing to the right are the heralds of Achilles' commander Agamemnon, who lead away the reluctant slave girl, Briseis. Because of Achilles' accusations of incompetence, Agamemnon was forced to return a captive slave girl to assuage the gods and lift a plague brought upon the Achaian soldiers by the girl's father. Enraged, Agamemnon demanded that Achilles give up a prize in turn and he sent his guards to demand Briseis. Achilles draws back in disdain and barely restrained fury as young Patroclus brings out Briseis.
Very little is known of Pierre Edme Louis Pellier beyond his participation in several Salon exhibition between 1800 and 1827 and his self identification as a pupil of Baron Regnault. Of the two history paintings by Pellier long in French collections, one has disappeared, making the present work a particularly important find. The complex staging of Pellier's painting and the balance of intricate detail with broad swaths of strong color are organized for a careful reading of Homer's much-loved epic. But one cannot escape the fact that Pellier painted the work during 1813 as fighting raged throughout western Europe between Napoleon's French armies and the Allied forces, coming fatefully to the outskirts of Paris in early 1814. In such a charged atmosphere, any artist would have had to step very carefully, and any use of the classical past would have held a contemporary resonance. Too little is known of Pellier to determine whether he intended the present work to be read also as an ironic comment on the hubris behind Napoleon's endless war-making.
We are grateful to Alex Murphy for preparing this catalogue entry.
Pellier chose the establishing event of Homer's Iliad for his subject, the moment when the warrior-hero Achilles perceives himself humiliated by the forced relinquishment of his battle prize, the beautiful Briseis. In fury, Achilles withdrew from the Achaians' campaign against Troy and set in motion a chain of deaths and disasters that would ultimately end in a funeral pyre and a challenge to the glorification of war.
In English, the first book of the Iliad is often titled The Wrath of Achilles, an appropriate subtitle for Pellier's painting. Achilles is seated on the left, identified by his powerful physique and golden hair, his magnificent armaments (a gift from the gods), and the grandeur of his 'hut' -- a mark of his successes in the ten years of the Achaians' (Greeks) battles with the Trojans. In the distance are the ships that brought the Achaians to the fields of Troy, and departing to the right are the heralds of Achilles' commander Agamemnon, who lead away the reluctant slave girl, Briseis. Because of Achilles' accusations of incompetence, Agamemnon was forced to return a captive slave girl to assuage the gods and lift a plague brought upon the Achaian soldiers by the girl's father. Enraged, Agamemnon demanded that Achilles give up a prize in turn and he sent his guards to demand Briseis. Achilles draws back in disdain and barely restrained fury as young Patroclus brings out Briseis.
Very little is known of Pierre Edme Louis Pellier beyond his participation in several Salon exhibition between 1800 and 1827 and his self identification as a pupil of Baron Regnault. Of the two history paintings by Pellier long in French collections, one has disappeared, making the present work a particularly important find. The complex staging of Pellier's painting and the balance of intricate detail with broad swaths of strong color are organized for a careful reading of Homer's much-loved epic. But one cannot escape the fact that Pellier painted the work during 1813 as fighting raged throughout western Europe between Napoleon's French armies and the Allied forces, coming fatefully to the outskirts of Paris in early 1814. In such a charged atmosphere, any artist would have had to step very carefully, and any use of the classical past would have held a contemporary resonance. Too little is known of Pellier to determine whether he intended the present work to be read also as an ironic comment on the hubris behind Napoleon's endless war-making.
We are grateful to Alex Murphy for preparing this catalogue entry.