The Procession Of The Trojan Horse Into Troy

The painting "The Procession Of The Trojan Horse Into Troy" was painted around 1760 by the artist Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo. The painting depicts a scene from the well known mythological Trojan War drawn from the accounts of the Roman poet Virgil in his work The Aeneid. The scene is the instant when the Trojans haul in the huge wooden horse into their city believing it to be a gift from the Gods and viewing it as a sacred victory offering. The people were completely unaware of the fact that there were Greek soldiers hiding inside the horse. At the centre of the composition lies the horse surrounded by an enormous crowd of people who are collectively trying to push and pull the wooden structure into the city, creating a brilliant sense of movement. The horse dominates the composition and commands attention to itself but interestingly enough, the artist chose to portray the horse with perfect anatomy, making it look like it were made of flesh and blood rather than a wooden structure. The horse also carries a Latin inscription on its flank which reads "PALADI VOTUM" meaning "An Offering to Pallas". Pallas refers to the Greek Goddess of warfare and wisdom, Athena. In the background, we see the daughter of King Priam, Cassandra who had correctly prophesied the destruction of the city if the horse were to enter the city. However, her admonition was rejected and she was imprisoned. Tiepolo's inclusion of Cassandra creates a sense of irony which impacts the painting heavily as the crowd is shown to be rejoicing over what they believed was their triumph, while the viewers already know that this moment was the beginning of Troy's destruction.