Hæcuba

Jerichau (II), J.A., 1916

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Artist: Jerichau (II), J.A. (Danish, 1890–1916)
Medium: Oil on canvas
Museum: SMK – National Gallery of Denmark
Rights: Public Domain Mark

Hecuba is among the last pictures Jens Adolf Jerichau painted before his untimely death in August 1916. Three figures occupy an open, unfurnished room that resembles a theatre stage. One sits on the sloping floor, another dances ecstatically, while the third deliberately throws themselves out through an arched opening into the empty sky. The scene can be read biographically as a foreshadowing of Jerichau’s imminent suicide: here the artist bids farewell to life by symbolically letting the figures leave behind the physical world, moving into eternity.

It can also be seen as a reflection on the conflict between the earthly realm and the ideal space that had preoccupied Jerichau in earlier paintings. In Greek legend, Hecuba is the queen of Troy and principal wife of king Priam. She suffered the loss of both her husband and her children. In Jerichau’s personal interpretation, the reference to Hecuba is used to evoke high drama. In this drama, Jerichau found the sublime perfection he also strove to achieve with his art (50 Favorites in the SMK Collection).