Battle in the Palace of Priam

A dense etching of a violent battle fought through a columned palace. Armored warriors with swords and bows press forward among fallen bodies, shields, and broken masonry, while figures on a balcony and a fire at left add to the turmoil. The densely hatched lines give the scene a dramatic, crowded energy typical of mid-sixteenth-century printmaking.

Look closer: A figure peers from a window in the upper left building, above the crowd.

Artist

Jean Mignon

Date

1535–55

Medium

Etching

Source

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Size

3763 × 2793 px

Credit (appreciated, not required for public-domain works): The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Georgiana W. Sargent, in memory of John Osborne Sargent, 1924