Chryses persuading Apollo to send the Plague upon the Greeks
attributed to Jacopo Alessandro Calvi (Bologna 1740 - Bologna 1815)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1760 - 1815
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
737 x 965 mm (29 x 38 in)
Place of origin
Bologna
Order this imageCollection
Hinton Ampner, Hampshire
NT 1530123.2
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Chryses persuading Apollo to visit the Plague upon the Greeks or Chryses's Prayer to Apollo or attributed to Jacopo Alessandro Calvi (Bologna 1740 - Bologna 1815). The central figure of Chryses holds a wreath and staff in his raised left hand. A winged figure draws a bow to shoot an arrow at the tents of the Greeks which are in the left background. A figure standing behind Chryses looks behind him towards the Greek tents. Beneath the winged figure a laden horse is grazing. According to Greek mythology (in the actions described prior to Homer's Iliad), after Agamemnon had kidnapped the daughter of Chryses and refused him her release, Chryses prayed to Apollo, and he, in order to defend the honor of his priest, sent a plague sweeping through the Greek armies. Agamemnon was forced to give Chryseis back in order to end it.
Provenance
Bequeathed by Ralph Dutton, 8th Lord Sherborne (1898–1985)
Credit line
Hinton Ampner, The Ralph Dutton Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
attributed to Jacopo Alessandro Calvi (Bologna 1740 - Bologna 1815), artist previously catalogued as attributed to Gaetano Gandolfi (1734 - 1802) , artist