Palas Atena

For a long time no one has quite agreed on who this armoured figure is. Rembrandt painted it around 1655 in Amsterdam, a warrior in a gold-tinged helmet with a shield bearing the head of Medusa and a spear held at the shoulder. The Medusa shield and spear are the standard attributes of Pallas Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom and war, and that is the name the painting has usually carried. Yet early owners read the soft, almost boyish face instead as Alexander the Great in Athena's armour, and the question has never been settled. In these years Rembrandt was painting single figures in rich costume for wealthy collectors, including a Sicilian nobleman who ordered an Alexander from him, which is part of why the two names are still argued over today.