The Wounded Philoctetes

The Wounded Philoctetes

Nicolai Abildgaard, 1775

Download free · 3000 × 2119px View on a wall Edit

Artist: Nicolai Abildgaard (Danish, 1743–1809)
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 123 × 175.5 cm
Museum: SMK – National Gallery of Denmark
Rights: Public Domain Mark

Tremendous force, energy and piercing pain infuse Abildgaard’s depiction of the wounded Greek hero Philoctetes. He was travelling to Troy with a contingent of Greek soldiers, but was bitten by a snake and left behind on the island of Lemnos, screaming. The Greeks eventually returned for Philoctetes, as he was the owner of Heracles’ bow, which always hit its target.

Abildgaard, who created this painting in Rome, wished to demonstrate his standpoint in the ongoing international debate on the idioms and devices of art. He favoured strong expression in art. At the same time he wished to show the professors at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen his skill, proving that he was qualified to create art for the Christiansborg Palace. The painting won great acclaim, but must also have seemed shocking at the time.

More by Nicolai Abildgaard

Amor and Psyche embracing each other

Amor and Psyche embracing each other

Nicolai Abildgaard

Ymir Suckling the Cow Audhumla

Ymir Suckling the Cow Audhumla

Nicolai Abildgaard, 1775-1778

Frederik II Builds Kronborg Castle at Elsinore

Frederik II Builds Kronborg Castle at Elsinore

Nicolai Abildgaard, 1781-1782

Julia and Fulvia

Julia and Fulvia

Nicolai Abildgaard, 1800

Udkast til et loft med cirkelrunde kassetter, afvekslende i gult og violet på blå bund

Udkast til et loft med cirkelrunde kassetter, afvekslende i gult og violet på blå bund

Nicolai Abildgaard, 1743-1809

Culmin's Ghost Appears to his Mother

Culmin's Ghost Appears to his Mother

Nicolai Abildgaard, c. 1794

Udkast til en loftsdekoration med cirkler og cirkelsegmenter

Udkast til en loftsdekoration med cirkler og cirkelsegmenter

Nicolai Abildgaard, 1743-1809

Simo and his former slave Sosia. From Terence´s Andria.

Simo and his former slave Sosia. From Terence´s Andria.

Nicolai Abildgaard, 1803

Philosophy. Allegorical figure.

Philosophy. Allegorical figure.

Nicolai Abildgaard, 1800

The Archangel Michael and Satan Disputing about the Body of Moses

The Archangel Michael and Satan Disputing about the Body of Moses

Nicolai Abildgaard, c. 1785

Adrastos slays himself on Atys' tomb

Adrastos slays himself on Atys' tomb

Nicolai Abildgaard, 1776

Christian I Proclaiming Holstein a Duchy in 1474. Painted for Christiansborg Castle

Christian I Proclaiming Holstein a Duchy in 1474. Painted for Christiansborg Castle

Nicolai Abildgaard, 1780

Visually similar

Sleeping Nymph

Anselm Feuerbach, 1876

Bacchant

William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1862

Faun and Bacchante

Faun and Bacchante

William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1860

Nature Untamed

Nicolai Abildgaard, 1784

Adam and Eve and their Children

Adam and Eve and their Children

Frans Floris (I)

Bathsheba at Her Bath

Bathsheba at Her Bath

Rembrandt, 1654

Académie d´homme, Hector

Académie d´homme, Hector

Jacques-Louis David, c. 1778

Adrastos slays himself on Atys' tomb

Adrastos slays himself on Atys' tomb

Nicolai Abildgaard, 1776

Hercules and the Lion of Nemea

Hercules and the Lion of Nemea

Peter Paul Rubens

Bacchante with a Panther

Bacchante with a Panther

Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, 1860–1870

Ung Pan i en grotte. Modelfigur

Ung Pan i en grotte. Modelfigur

Wilhelm Bendz, 1825

Death of Viala

Pierre-Paul Prud'hon