+ Expand

Description: signed Gustave Moreau lower left oil on canvas

+ Expand

Dimensions: 33 by 24.5cm., 13 by 9½in.

+ Expand

Provenance: Butin Charity (donated by the artist)
Sale: Vente Butin, 19 May 1884
Antoni Roux (purchased at the above sale)
Monsieur Allard (purchased from the above)
Blanquet de Fulde; his sale: Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 7 May 1905
Baillehache Collection
Galerie Bernheim Jeune, Paris
Baron de Turkeim; his sale: Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 28 May 1910, lot 64 (as Le Centaure)

+ Expand

Exhibited: Paris, Galerie Bernheim Jeune, 1906, no. 16

+ Expand

Published: Pierre-Louis Mathieu, Gustave Moreau, sa vie, son oeuvre. Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre achevé, Fribourg, 1976, p. 345, no. 318, illustrated
Pierre-Louis Mathieu, Gustave Moreau. Monographie et nouveau catalogue de l'oeuvre achevé, Paris, 1998, p. 389, no. 357, catalogued & illustrated

+ Expand

Notes: The present work illustrates a youthful Achilles being mentored in the art of the lyre by the wise centaur Chiron on Mount Pelion in Thessaly.

In Greek mythology, Achilles was a Greek hero of the Trojan War and the main protagonist and finest warrior of Homer's Illiad. Son of the sea nymph Thetis and Peleus, king of the Myrmidons, this half-mortal, half-god, his only weakness was his heel, which would eventually cause his demise in battle. Chiron was wise and scholarly, and the tutor of Greek heroes such as Jason, Asclepius, Theseus, Ajax and Peleus, Achilles' father. Chiron had been rejected at birth by his parents, Zeus' father Cronus and the sea nymph Philyra, and had subsequently been raised by the sun god Apollo, who taught him prophecy, healing, music, poetry, wrestling, swordsmanship and archery. Chiron passed these skills on to his young wards: 'His lofty home bores deep into the mountain, beneath the long, overarching vault of Pelion; part had been hollowed out by toil, part worn away by its own age... but now, a warrior no more, his only toil was to learn the herbs that bring health to creatures doubting of their lives, or to describe to his pupil upon his lyre the heroes of old time' (Pablius Papinius Statius, Achilleid, Book 1).

Gustave Moreau's oeuvre reflected his love of mythological subjects. Steeped in classical culture from an early age, Moreau used his extensive knowledge of Greek and Roman myth to create a rich visual language that is both archaic and modern. The blissful lyricism of the present work is a celebration of the art of music, represented by Chiron teaching Achilles to play the lute, an instrument associated with the Apollonian virtues of moderation and equilibrium. Just as Chiron represents the integration of human culture and intellect with our bestial instincts and violent nature, Moreau 'explored the theme of humankind's potential for evil... [And] wedded the insights of ancient myths with those of Darwinist explanation to convey the epic battle between the body's basest passions and the soul's loftiest aspirations' (Genevieve Lacambre, Larry Feinberg, Marie Laure de Contenson & Douglas Druick, Gustave Moreau, Between Epic and Dream, 1999, p. 36).