Updated 10 June 2025
On Display Permanent collection
On Display
Hector Upbraiding Paris for his Retreat from Battle
| Date | 1770s |
|---|---|
| Materials and Techniques | Oil on canvas |
| Size（cm） | 81.4 x 112.1 |
| Inscriptions | Signed lower right: Angelica Kauffman Pinx |
| Category | Paintings |
| Collection Number | P.2015-0003 |
A Neoclassical artist who worked in Rome and London, Angelica Kauffman gained an international reputation for history painting. Taking its theme from the Greek epic poem The Iliad, this work shows the Trojan prince Hector upbraiding his younger brother Paris whose elopement with Helen, the queen of Sparta, triggered the Trojan War: he is angry with him for leaving the battleground. Kauffman, in tackling historical themes, often adopts the female point of view, as she does here by softening the martial tone. (Source: Gallery label, July 2016)
Provenance
George Bowles, Wanstead, by 1788, d. 1817; to his sister, Rebecca, wife of Sir John Rushout; Hon. Anne Rushout, 1826; Sir Charles Rushout; and by descent to the Third Baron Rushout, d. 1859; to Sir Charles Cockerell, who became Sir Charles F. Rushout of Sezincote House, Gloucestershire; to his heirs; Sale Phillips and Neale, London, 9-12 December 1879 (as Hector and Paris); sold to Aldis; Mrs. N. D'Arcy; Sale Christie's, London, 8 December 1950, lot 23 (as Achilles in his Tent); Private Collection, England; Sale Christie's, London, Old Master & British Paintings, Evening Sale, 8 July 2014, lot 30; Purchased by NMWA, 2015.
Exhibition History
- 2017
- [Traveling Exhibitions Presenting National Art Museum Collections, Fiscal 2017] Muse: Women before the Artists' Eyes: From the Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, Fukushima Prefectural Museum of Art, 22 April 2017 - 2 July 2017, Akita Museum of Modern Art, 15 July-18 September, cat. no. 1
Bibliography
- 1788
- Pictures in the Bowles Collection. Boydell, 1788, (engraved by Georg Siegmund and Johann Gottlieb Facius)
- 1892
- Gerard, Frances A. Angelica Kauffmann: A Biography. London, Ward and Downey, 1892, p. 339, no. 19.
- 1924
- Manners, Victoria; Williamson, G. C. Angelica Kauffmann, R.A., Her Life and Her Works. New York, Brentano's [1924], p. 232.
- 1992
- Roworth, Wendy Wassyng. "The art of paintings". Angelica Kauffman: A Continental Artist in Georgian England. Roworth, Wendy Wassyng, ed. London, Reaktion Books, 1992, pp. 60-61, 209, fig. 41 (mistakenly as the painting exhibited at the Royal Academy).
- 1998
- Angelika Kauffmann (exh. cat.). Baumgärtel, Bettina et al., eds. Sammlung Kunstakademie, Düsseldorf; Haus der Kunst, München; Bündner Kunstmuseum Chur. Ostfildern-Ruit, Hatje, 1998, pp. 172, 174 (under no. 59), 380 (under no. 224).
- 2017
- Annual Bulletin of the National Museum of Western Art. No. 50 (Apr. 2015-Mar. 2016), 2017, Jingaoka, Megumi. New Acquisitions. pp. 18-19, List of New Acquisitions. p. 26, col. repr.
- 2017
- Muse: Women before the Artists' Eyes: from the Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo: Traveling Exhibitions Presenting National Art Museum Collections, Fiscal 2017 (exh. cat.). Nakada, Asuka, ed. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2017, pp. 22, 138, cat. no. 1, col. repr.