Chiron and Achilles

A centaur drawing a bow is the old image of Sagittarius, the Archer of the zodiac, and the museum's guide to its dome, written in 1922, ended Chiron's story that way. The wise centaur gave up his immortality, and Zeus set him among the stars as Sagittarius. Ancient writers did not all agree, and some placed him instead in the southern constellation Centaurus. In this canvas Sargent made him an archer first of all. Chiron rears among white clouds against a deep blue sky, his bow bent and a quiver of arrows at his shoulder, and the boy Achilles, riding on his back, aims his own bow beside his teacher's. Greek writers said that Chiron had learned hunting from Apollo and his sister Artemis, and the Gardner Museum in Boston calls him Apollo's adopted son. The painting went up over the museum's main staircase in 1925, with Sargent's initials, J.S.S., in the lower right corner.