In his many scenes inspired by the Iliad, Thorvaldsen usually went in for the heroic element. However, he rarely chose such a dramatic moment as in this, in which Achilles is drawing his sword as King Agamemnon is threatening to take Briseis, Achilles’ prize, from him. Minerva intervenes and defuses the situation. The drawing was one of several made in preparation for a relief that Thorvaldsen, however, never completed.
