Alexander visiting the tomb of Achilles

In 334 B.C., Alexander the Great led his army into Asia Minor, stopping in Troy to pay homage to his hero, Achilles, the famed Greek warrior celebrated in The Iliad. Plutarch recounts that after sacrificing to Athena, Alexander visited Achilles's tomb (Life of Alexander, XV). There, he anointed himself with oil and crowned the gravestone with garlands. Following an ancient custom, he took part in a race around the sepulcher with his companions in the fallen warrior's honor. According to Cicero, while at the tomb, Alexander praised Achilles both for his deeds and for his fame, saying 'O fortunate youth, to have found Homer as the herald of your glory!"(Pro Archia 24).

The present work is a version of the painting in the Louvre, Paris, listed as no. A259 in Ferdinando Arisi's catalogue raisonné of Giovanni Paolo Panini (F. Arisi, Giovanni Paolo Panini, 1691-1765, Milan, 1993). Aside from the present picture, only one other version of the composition is known, most recently documented in a private collection in Florence (see F. Arisi, Gian Paolo Panini, Piacenza, 1961, no. 117). The capriccio of Roman ruins includes a pyramid similar to that of Caius Sestius, seen in the background, and a circular temple inspired by the Temple of Vesta.

We are grateful to Professor David Marshall for confirming the attribution on the basis of photographs (private communication, 24 November 2013).