HANS VON MARÉES | CHIRON AND ACHILLES

Peter Bruckmann, Florence

Franz Pallenberg, Rome

David Daniels, New York

J. Meier-Graefe, Hans von Marées. Sein Leben und Werk, Munich and Leipzig, 1910, vol. II, p.506, cat. no.792

J. Meier-Graefe, Hans von Marées. Zeichnungen in drei Mappen; Museumsausgabe des Meier-Graefeschen Marées-Werkes, Munich, n.d., portfolio III, pl.792

Cambridge, Harvard University, Busch-Reisinger Museum, German Master Drawings of the Nineteenth Century, October – November 1972, cat. no.54, illustrated

New York, Shepherd Gallery, German Drawings and Watercolours 1780-1880. A Survey of Works on Paper by German-Speaking Artists, May – July 1981, cat. no.221, illustrated

Painted in 1883, the present work is part of a series of drawings on the subject of Chiron and Achilles and which the artist appears to have executed as a farewell gift to his pupil Viktor zur Helle before leaving Rome. It is possible that Marées identified himself in Chiron, the wise centaur who, according to Greek mythology, was the revered teacher to many notable heroes including Achilles.