Paolo gerolamo Piola

Oil on canvas painting with dimensions of 173 x 273 cm without frame and 176 x 276 cm with a small support frame, depicting Achilles and the Daughters of Lycomedes by the painter Paolo Gerolamo Piola (Genoa 1666 – 1724). Various ancient sources, including Ovid's very popular Metamorphoses, narrate the episode of Achilles depicted in the Baroque era, that is, the one that sees him in an act anything but heroic: disguised in female attire. Tethys, knowing that he would die if he went to fight at Troy, made him wear women's clothes and entrusted him to King Lycomedes. Achilles also entertained himself with Lycomedes' daughters when Ulysses and Menelaus arrived, sent to Scyros by Agamemnon to find him. They brought typically feminine gifts, but also a sword and a shield that Achilles instinctively grabbed when the trumpets sounded, revealing his identity. The playful scene lends itself well to the theatricality of the Genoese Baroque; thus Paolo Gerolamo Piola takes advantage of this to crowd the shaped canvas, which tells this story, with as many as nine figures. Looking at the painting, we cannot help but fall in love with the figure of Achilles, with a bright red feather in his hair, wrapped in a luminous blue cloak. This figure is very close to one of the most iconic figures of Paolo Gerolamo Piola, namely the wonderful Salome, formerly Canesso and now Baratti. The painting, with the expertise of Anna Orlando, unpublished, was exhibited in Genoa at the Barocco Nascosto exhibition held between March and July 2022, as well as published in the related catalog. The paintings and art objects published here are my exclusive property and consequently are always available to be viewed in person, by appointment, at my exhibition locations located in Sanremo and Brescia. The work, like all our objects, is sold accompanied by a FIMA photographic certificate of authenticity and lawful provenance; this document identifies the object, adding value to the item. We personally handle and organize the packaging and shipping of works of art with insurance all over the world. Riccardo Moneghini Art historian