Plate LXIX - Achilles in Scyros

Plate LXIX represents Ulysses and his friend detecting Achilles among the maidens of the court of King Lycomedes of Scyros, whither he had been sent to evade the search which was likely to be made for him. The story is well known, and the eagerness of the young prince to possess himself of the arms which were placed before him, by which he was recognised, is ably told in this picture, which is in the tablinum of the third portion of the house of the Dioscuri. The painting, though in colours, has at present the appearance of having been first executed in shades of red, afterwards touched with transparent tints, through which the red is almost always visible.