The Abduction of Helen

In 15th-century Florence the story of Troy was often read in a Latin history that claimed to be the eyewitness report of a Trojan named Dares. In his version Helen went willingly and fell for Paris at once, and this birth tray, probably by Zanobi Strozzi, follows that account. Nobody looks frightened. Several women are being carried out of the temple of Apollo on the island of Cythera, and Helen rides high on a young man's shoulders towards the ship. Paris, the fair-haired young man in armour, stays with the soldiers and shows himself off, a touch that may come from the same text. Across the flowery grass a small boy runs away. X-rays show that the panel once had 12 sides. It was cut down to its present eight, mostly at the top, and lost part of the building's corner and a window.