The Wrath Of Achilles, Large Bronze 19th Century

The anger of Achilles, large bronze with black patina on a gray marble base.
Achilles is depicted when in anger he puts his hand on his weapon to avenge his honor face to King Agamemnon.
Beautiful 19th century bronze, beautiful period patina.
First half of the 19th century, without founder's name.
Total height 60 cm

Legendary Greek hero, Achilles is the main character of the Iliad, the Homeric epic which recounts the campaign against Ilion (Troy), led by the Achaeans. “The anger of Achilles”, at the origin of the death of numerous Greek heroes, alone catalyzes all the elements of the myth. Achilles is in fact the first of the Achaean heroes, uniting in him beauty, high birth, exceptional training and fiery character. Son of the nereid Thetis and the king of the Myrmidons Peleus, he was educated by the centaur Chiron in hunting, but also in music, medicine and morality. He was raised with his cousin and friend Patroclus. Knowing from an oracle that her son was to die before Troy, Thetis sent him to the court of King Lycomedes, where he lived disguised as a woman, under the name of Pyrrha, alongside the king's daughters. He has a son by one of them, Déidamie, who will be named first Neoptolemus, then, later, Pyrrhus. However, the oracle having specified that Troy could not be taken without Achilles, the Greeks managed, thanks to Ulysses, to find him. It was in front of Troy, alongside his friend Patroclus, that he displayed all his courage and warrior virtuosity, becoming the main support of the Achaean forces during the first nine years of the Trojan War. But when Agamemnon, the king of the Achaeans, seizes his captive Briseis by force, performing an act of hubris, he feels insulted and dispossessed of the one who belonged to him and who was dear to him. Achilles then refuses to take up arms and retires to his tent. The pleas of his friends, the countless deaths, nothing can bend his will. Only the death of his friend Patroclus brings him back into battle. Maddened with grief at the news of his friend's cruel end, he will watch an entire night in front of the shadow of Patroclus who speaks to him at length (Iliad, canto XXIII, lines 103-107). To avenge Patroclus, he intends to offer him the death of his murderer, Hector, whom he will pursue fiercely and whose body he will cruelly drag around the Trojan ramparts. But then, accessible to pity, he ends up returning Hector's body to his father, King Priam. Achilles dies shortly after Hector from an arrow shot by Paris and guided by Apollo, which pierces his right heel, the only vulnerable part of his body. Thetis then takes her son to the Island of the Blessed. Tradition has it that his ashes are at Sigea on the Hellespont; he was also honored in Sparta.