Lot 157: Nicolaes Knüpfer , Leipzig circa 1609 - 1655 Utrecht Achilles discovered among the daughters of Lycomedes oil on panel

traces of signature lower left: NK.... oil on panel

measurements note 59.8 by 43.1 cm.; 23 1/2 by 16 7/8 in.

THE PROPERTY OF A LADY
The subject is related in Hyginus' Fabulae (96) and elsewhere. Knowing that he will die in the forthcoming Trojan War, Achilles is hidden by his mother at the court of Lycomedes of Scyros, disguised as a woman among the King's daughters. Ulysses, charged with finding him, cunningly hides a sword among a heap of clothes and jewels he lays before the women of the court, and when a trumpet is sounded Achilles reveals himself by reaching instinctively for the weapons.
We are grateful to Dr. Jo Saxton for endorsing the attribution to Knüpfer following first-hand inspection of the original. She dates the present work to the early 1650s by comparison with the Dido and Aeneas of 1652 now in Slovenia (J. Saxton, Nicolaus Knüpfer. An original artist, Doornspijk 2005, p. 131, cat. no. 37, reproduced).