Collection of the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami

The Entrance of the Wooden Horse into Troy

Artist/Maker Gillis van Valckenborch (Flanders, ca. 1570-1622)

Date1598

Mediumoil on canvas

DimensionsSight: 49 x 92 in. (124.5 x 233.7 cm)
Framed: 56 1/4 x 99 1/2 x 3 1/4 in. (142.9 x 252.7 x 8.3 cm)

ClassificationsVisual Works

Credit LineMuseum purchase through 35th Anniversary Funds

Terms

Object number85.0024

On View

Not on view

Collections

Art of Europe

DescriptionThe Entrance of the Wooden Horse into Troy illustrates one of the most familiar episodes of the Trojan War. In this depiction of the story, the scene of the great horse on wheels being pushed into the city occupies only a small portion of the composition. The rest of the painting is devoted to the sensual activities of multitudes of Trojans who make merry with abandon. Eating, drinking, and playing music, they are wholly unaware of impending disaster, symbolized by the dark storm clouds gathering above the city. Gillis van Valckenborch, like many Northern artists in this period, made a trip to Italy in 1595 where he saw the work of the Italian Mannerists. The impact of this experience on the painter’s style may be seen in the Lowe’s painting in his large animated groups of nude and semi-nude figures; deep plunge into depth from foreground to background; dramatic lighting effects and decorative colors. The composition was inspired by the 1587 engraving of the marriage of Cupid and Psyche by the Dutch Mannerist Hendrick Goltzius.
Visual Description

This four-and-a-half foot tall, eight-and-a-quarter foot long framed oil on canvas depicts the crowded and bustling city of Troy as the Trojans wheel the Greek’s hollow wooden horse into their soon-to-be ransacked city. In this depiction, rendered in a dark, rich palette, the wooden horse appears in the distant middle ground at our far left, surrounded by a large crowd. Centered in the foreground, and in the middle ground along our right, are half-naked Trojans draped in luxurious sheets of fabric, feasting at tables lined with food and drink. In the background, above the hillside city, black storm clouds fill the sky.