The Education of Achilles
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
sheet: 10 7/8 x 16 in. (27.6 x 40.6 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1926
Accession Number
26.70.3(52)
Art Historical Context
Created around 1650–55, *The Education of Achilles* is an etching that captures a beloved scene from Greek mythology: the young hero Achilles receiving instruction from the wise centaur Chiron. Pietro Testa, a 17th-century Italian artist known for his inventive prints, designed the composition, which was likely executed with the involvement of Giovanni Cesare Testa and published by Giovanni Giacomo De Rossi. The medium of etching allowed Testa to achieve fine, fluid lines and dramatic contrasts of light and shadow, making complex narratives accessible to a wider audience through affordable pri...
About the Artist
Pietro Testa|Giovanni Cesare Testa|Giovanni Giacomo De Rossi · 1612–1650
Pietro Testa was born in Lucca in 1612 and, in accordance with the conventions of Italian artistic training, made his way to Rome while still young. There he studied under two of the leading painters of the early seventeenth century: Domenichino, from whom he absorbed a taste for classical restraint and narrative clarity, and Pietro da Cortona, whose more exuberant Baroque manner offered a contras...