Helen of Troy ('Helen on the Walls of Troy')

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Painting details

Title: Helen of Troy ('Helen on the Walls of Troy')
Date: c.1865
Media: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 208 x 150 cm
Location: Private Collection

Interpretation

This subject is taken from the third book of Iliad. In the scene Iris has persuaded Helen to see Paris and Menelaus before they began their duel to win her hand. Helen has put on her white robes and, accompanied by her maids, walks along the walls of Troy. The following passage accompanied the image: "Thus as she spoke, in Helen's breast arose Fond recollections of her former lord, Her home, and parents; o'er her head she threw A snowy veil; and shedding tender tears She issued forth not unaccompanied; For with her went fair Aethra, Pittheus' child, And stag-eyed Clymene, her maidens twain. They quickly at the Scaean gate arrived." [From a translation by Edward Geoffrey Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, 1864]. Exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1865 (catalogue number 309); at Manchester in 1872.

Description

Full-length, standing female figure, facing the viewer. The figure's left arm holds her dress in front of the waist. The right arm holds the dress around her collar. The left foot is raised slightly off the ground. The figure is in classical dress with a decorative motif around the base of the fabric. To the right of the canvas there are two female figures following the first. The figures are turned to the left. In the background the walls of a building can be seen and the sea.

Provenance

W. Cottrill, his sale, Christie's, 25 April 1873, (lot 229), bought Agnew; Duchess of Montrose, sold by her, Christie's, 14 July 1894 (lot 24), bought in, and again, 4 May 1895 (lot 78), bought Grant; Christie's, 01 May 1897 (lot 123), bought J. Lehmann, and 24 November 1906 (lot 97, bought Wallis; Ranjitsinhji; Private Collection, India.

Bibliography

• Jones, Steven et. al., 'Fredric Leighton', Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1996, p.77, figure 53
• Ormond, LeonTe and Richard, 'Lord Leighton', Yale University Press, London, 1975, p.77 (footnote 5), 86, 89, 156, 156, catalogue number 118
• Rhys, Ernest, (prefatory essay by Stephens, F. G.) 'Sir Frederic Leighton, Bart., P. R. A.: An Illustrated Chronicle', George Bell and Sons, London, 1895, p.14, illustrated opposite p.14

Exhibition history

• 1865, Royal Academy of Arts, catalogue number 309
• 1872, Manchester

Reproductions

Barrington, Mrs. Russell, 'The Life, Letters and Work of Frederic, Lord Leighton', George Allen, London, 1906, volume II, p.125; Jones, Stephen, et al., 'Frederic Leighton (1830-1896)', Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1996, p.77, illustrated on p.77; Ormond, LeonTe and Richard, 'Lord Leighton', Yale University Press, London, 1975, p.77n, 86, 89, 156 catalogue number 118; Rhys, Ernest, 'Frederic Lord Leighton, Late President of the Royal Academy of Arts: An Illustrated Record of his Life and Work'