Marble relief of Philoctetes on the island of Lemnos, workshop of Giammaria Mosca, Venice, early 16th century

Philoctetes. Relief in white marble inlaid with red and purplish grey breccia marble. The relief is framed at the top and sides by a flat border; at the base is a shallow projecting platform. To the left there is a step inlaid with coloured marble. Philoctetes, a bearded male nude carved almost in the round, is seated on a tree trunk which rises from the platform. He faces to the left with his right leg extended across the relief and his right foot raised on the projecting step. With his left hand he clasps the tree trunk, and with his right, he fans the inflamed wound in his right calf with a bird's wing. In the left background are two columns and the entablature of a temple, and on the right is a tree, to which are tied a bow and quiver full of arrows.

Purchased in London (J. Rochelle Thomas). There is no record of the provenance of the relief prior to its appearance as anonymous property at auction in the preceding year (Christie, 8 December, 1927, No.82, £157 16s., attributed to Tullio Lombardo.

The relief represents Philoctetes, son of Poeas, King of the Malians. According to the version of the myth recorded by Servius (commentary to Aenid, III 402), which is that illustrated in this relief, Philoctetes, having accidentally injured himself on the journey to Troy with one of the arrows of Hercules, was abandoned by his companions on Lemnos because of the stench of his wound. The bow and arrows of Hercules are shown in the right background of the relief ; they were presented to Philoctetes or his father in return for lighting the funeral pyre of Hercules on Mount Oeta, and were later instrumental in effecting the fall of Troy. The popularity of this relief is reflected in the survival of three modified variants. These are in the Hermitage in St Petersburg, the Palazzo Ducale at Mantua and a private collection in London. The basic composition of the relief is related to an antique cameo of the same subject, signed by the Hellenistic artist Boethos, while the figure itself is derived from the Belvedere Torso.

Maclagan and Longhurst relate the present relief to to a number of others depicting heroes and heronies of antiquity presumed to have been made for Alfonso I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara. Pope-Hennessy dissmisses the claim that the group or any of its individual constituents was carved for Alfonso d'Este at Ferrara.

The relief represents Philoctetes son of Poeas, who accidentally injured himself on a journey to Troy with one of the arrows of Hercules (the bow and a quiver of arrows can be seen hanging on the tree behind) and was abandoned by his companions because of the stench of his wound. The figure of Philoctetes is derived from that on a cameo by the Greek sculptor and metalworker Boethos, which was made sometime in the second century AD.

A.9-1928