Michel Martin Drolling (1786-1851) was a French
academic painter who specialized in Neo-
classical subjects in the manner of Jacques-Louis
David (1748-1825), the leading exponent of the
Neo-Classical movement. To that end, he has
placed his figures in the foreground in imitation
of a theatre stage in front of a distant backdrop
which recalls a scene set. The gestures of his
figures and their body language are also taken
directly from theatre and imitate a director’s
blocking. The theatre analogy is further
enhanced by the lack of a middle ground. These
references to the contemporary theatre are no
accident because critics at the time demanded
that art follow the lead of theatre with regard to
composition and design. Here Drolling
demonstrates his strict adherence to such ideas.
In keeping with Neo-classical design tenets,
Drolling’s palette is restricted to a few bold
colours, namely red, green, and a golden yellow
which he restricts to a few, selected garments
but which nevertheless create a very colourful
impression.
Drolling takes as his point of departure two
episodes in Homer’s famed epic, the Iliad. The
first occurs in Book 11, lines 654ff, where
Nestor, king of sandy Pylos on the southwestern
coast of Greece and a man renowned for his
wisdom, explains why the refusal of Achilles to
fight is so detrimental to the Greeks. The second
is based on the Funeral Games of Patroklos,
which occupy the whole of Book 23, in which
various Greeks are given prizes for winning
respective athletic competitions. By carefully
reworking these episodes into his composition,
Drolling creates a narrative which is not actually
found in the Homeric poem.
In order to concentrate on the prize given to
Nestor for his wisdom, Drolling places the left
hand side of the painting in shadow and turns
the body and head of the most prominent nude
in that vignette toward the right. That permits
the introduction of Achilles, depicted as a heroic
nude, his muscular body showcased against his
red robe and horse-hair plumed helmet. Achilles
makes a dramatic entrance. He holds out a
classical vessel with his extended left hand to the
aged Nestor, supported by his young man
servant, while his right hand is offered in
greeting. Nestor’s intense gaze is fixed on
Achilles while the space between their heads is
filled by the frontal image of an old man, with
long white hair and a long white beard. The
model for this head was doubtless an ancient
Greek sculpture of either Zeus or Serapis, known
to Drolling as well as to his audience. Such
“quotations” of well-known ancient sculptures by
Neo-Classical painters sat well with
contemporary art patrons and demonstrated that
they, as artists, were equal of the great masters
of antiquity.
Slumped over at the right hand corner of the
painting is Agamemnon, the nominal leader of
the Greeks against Troy. He is obviously
displeased as the gesture of his right arm and
sulking expression reveal. This depiction is
doubtless intended to be ironic because in the
Iliad Agamemnon is awarded a prize during the
Funeral Games of Patroklos for absolutely
nothing. He is rewarded simply because he is the
nominal leader of the Greeks. His sullen
expression here suggests that he, as that leader,
should be recognized for his wisdom, such as it
was.The quotations from famous Classical works
of art were not limited to the hoary head
appearing between Achilles and Nestor. The face
of Nestor itself is modeled on busts of Homer
known in several Roman copies. The sullen figure
of Agamemnon is based on Classical prototypes
of seated gods such as Zeus or Poseidon, and
even the figure to the far left whose back is to
the audience and who serves to introduce the
scene is a quotation from any number of
Classical statues of male nudes designed with
this S-curved configuration of their body,
Drolling was a recognized academician during
his own life-time and contributed to
popularizing ancient Greek subjects in the period
leading up to the European Liberation of Greece
from the Ottomans, of which Lord Byron is such
an eloquent exponent. This painting is
possession of all of the elements deemed
important for inclusion within a Neo-Classical
work of art. The scene is redolent with
quotations from ancient works of art which,
doubtless, served as a lively conversation piece
as guests would stand in front of the painting,
attempting to identify each such quotation to the
sheer delight of its owner.
