Art Analysis: Thetis Bringing The Armour To Achilles

The first artwork that I have chosen is “Thetis Bringing the Armour to Achilles” by the American painter Benjamin West. This painting is a oil paint work on canvas, made around 1804. It states on the museum website and the label describing the artwork that the painting was made in America. However, judging by the date it was made and Benjamin West’s history, I am doubtful that it was even painted in America, but rather in London, where he lived until his death in 1820. The painting depicts the mythological scene where, during the Trojan War, Achilles is mourning over Patroclus’s untimely death and Thetis bringing Achilles the new armor Hephaestus agreed to create. Achilles kept his mother’s promise to not go to war until she comes back with his armor, even when the messengers of Hera pleaded otherwise. However, during that time, he deathly afraid of leaving the late Patroclus’s side in fear of his dead body wasting away.

The whole composition of the work seems clustered and cluttered, not to mention the sense of incompleteness. Although the viewer’s focus is on Achilles, the late Patroclus and Thetis, there are some patches of areas that doesn’t look like they put the same amount of effort into painting it. The space in the frame

Although the museum website nor the description in the exhibit did not mention anything about the style of the artwork, I am making assumptions that this ceramic work is an Arita-yaki, or Arita-ware. The French modified the porcelain bowl by adding decorative silver mountings on the edge of the lid, handles and feet. Judging by the size and how the bowl’s edge is formed, I’m assuming that this is a futa-tsuki kobachi, or a small bowl with a lid. The work shows a genre scene of aristocrats of 17th or 18th century Japan frolicking underneath a blooming tree and a hanaguruma, or flower cart, on the other side of the dancing