Alexander at the Corpse of the Dead Darius by Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini was created in 1708. The painting is in Museum Kunstpalast Düsseldorf. The size of the work is 86 x 105,5 cm and is made of oil on canvas.
The interpretation of this depiction in the context of Alexander the Great’s campaign against the Persian king in 333 and 331 B.C. is recent. Prior to 1989, the painting was called “Achilles at the Corpse of the Dead Patroclos”, but not only do some iconographic conventions suggest this is wrong, so does a similar composition by Pellegrini in the museum in Soissons. Thus, we have not two friends in the face of death, but two enemies. Read more in Google.
About the Artist: Venetian history painters Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini was born in Venice. Pellegrini was a pupil of the Milanese painter Paolo Pagani. He travelled with his master to Moravia and Vienna in 1690 and was back in Venice in 1696 where he painted his first surviving works. The work of fellow Venetian Sebastiano Ricci had an important influence on his work. He was in Rome from 1699 to 1701. Pellegrini visited England from 1708 to 1713 at the invitation of the Earl of Manchester… read more
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