Andromache Mourning Hector

Heroes and Troy

Jacques-Louis David

Andromache Mourning Hector

1783

Oil on canvas, 275 × 203 cm · Louvre, Paris (on deposit from the École des Beaux-Arts)

David’s reception piece for the French Royal Academy, the painting that won him membership, shown at the Salon of 1783. It belongs to the École des Beaux-Arts and was restored in 2025.

  • Andromache sits beside Hector’s body with their young son Astyanax.
  • Hector’s helmet and weapons are laid beside him.
  • The candelabrum at right carries a Greek inscription quoting Andromache’s lament from the Iliad.
  • Bequeathed to the École des Beaux-Arts in 1886; on deposit at the Louvre since 1969.

Hector, Troy’s greatest defender, was killed by Achilles. The Iliad ends with his funeral and the lament of his wife Andromache.

Image: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

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