Alexander cuts the Gordian knot - Berthélemy
Autre numéro d'inventaire : B 1290
Description
Gordias, king of Phrygia, had tied such a complicated knot around the tiller of his chariot (visible behind Alexander) that it was peddled that whoever managed to untie it would be king of the universe. Alexander cut it with his sword. The scene probably takes place in front of the temple of Zeus, to which Gordias had dedicated his chariot.
2. This painting earned Berthélemy, after three successive failures, the first Prix de Rome.
Collection of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture;
Musée du Louvre, Département des Peintures;
Deposit at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris.
3. There is a painting by Restout on the same subject (1746, Stockholm National Museum) and the engraving after a drawing by Carle Vanloo (Vienna, Albertina).
.Technical Data
Notice #001224
