The Education of Achilles by the Centaur Chiron

In the 18th century a painter could not simply call himself a member of the Royal Academy in Paris. First he was accepted on approval, and then he had to give the Academy a finished picture, his reception piece. This canvas was Jean-Baptiste Regnault's. He signed and dated it in 1782, and on 25 October 1783 it won him his full seat, at 29.

For the subject he went to Greek myth. Achilles was brought up by the centaur Chiron, half man and half horse, who trained him to hunt and to fight and taught him medicine and music. Regnault chose the archery lesson. The boy, naked but for a white cloth, draws the bow at full stretch, and the centaur stands close behind him, guiding the shot.

The picture stayed in the Academy's collection, was shown at the Salons of 1783 and 1791, and came to the Louvre after the Revolution. In 1798 the engraver Charles-Clément Bervic published a print of it.