Achilles Discovered among the Daughters of Lycomedes

This canvas from around 1680 shows the classical taste that took hold in Holland at the end of the 17th century, with light colours and smooth brushwork. To keep Achilles out of the Trojan War, his mother, the sea goddess Thetis, hid him at the court of King Lycomedes, dressed as a girl among the king's daughters. Odysseus arrived with a chest of gifts that included weapons, and the young man gave himself away by reaching for a sword. In a pale gown and a feathered headdress, Achilles holds the blade while a visitor grips his arm, and one of the princesses still has a mirror in her hand. By 1757 the picture was at Het Loo, the Orange family's palace. In 1795 the French confiscated it and sent it to the Louvre. It came back after 1815 and has been in the Mauritshuis since 1822.