Alexander at the Corpse of the Dead Darius

The interpretation of this depiction in the context of Alexander the Great’s campaign against the Persian king in 333 and 331 B.C. is recent. Prior to 1989, the painting was called "Achilles at the Corpse of the Dead Patroclos", but not only do some iconographic conventions suggest this is wrong, so does a similar composition by Pellegrini in the museum in Soissons. Thus, we have not two friends in the face of death, but two enemies. Yet their confrontation is shown as an intimate, dignified moment, supported in the composition by the brilliant use of perspective to shorten the dying man’s body, the view from below and the strong focus on the way the two protagonists look at each other. Alongside such history Paintings, Pellegrini was famous above all for his work as a decorative painter to the courts of Europe. Elector Palatine Johann Wilhelm, who resided in Düsseldorf, commissioned Pellegrini between 1710-16 to create 40 large-sized wall and ceiling Paintings for his hunting lodge of Bensberg. (Kathrin DuBois)