Philoctetes on the Island of Lemnos - Barry, James (Irish painter, printmaker, and lithographer, 1741-1806, active in England) (The Tate Gallery, 1983)
This canvas, painted for the Accademia Clementina in Bologna when Barry was made a member, is on the same ambitious scale he had chosen for 'The Temptation of Adam' (cgjc0762). Based on translations of two Greek texts, Glaucus' epigram on Parrhasius' lost picture and Sophocles' play, the painting depicts the Greek warrior Philoctetes had sailed with the Greek expedition mounted against Troy, but was bitten by a serpent on the journey.' (Pressly, 52)
Keywords: Lemnos Island (Greece); Art, Irish; Painting, Irish; Art and mythology pictorial works; Philoctetes (Greek mythology); Limnos Island (Greece); Sublime, The, in art; 18th century