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Philoctetes on the Island of Lemnos
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
A snake bit the Greek warrior Philoctetes en route to the Trojan War. The stench of the infected wound led the ship’s crew to abandon him on the island of Lemnos, where he fans the agonizing injury with a bird’s wing. The warrior’s noble suffering in the face of tremendous pain would have been a classical model of stoic composure, highly valued in Renaissance court culture.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit linePhiloctetes on the Island of Lemnos, c. 1510–1515. Workshop of Giovanni Maria Mosca (Italian, 1495/99–1574). Marble; overall: 29 x 23 x 8.5 cm (11 7/16 x 9 1/16 x 3 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1973.168
