The Death of Alcestis

Peyron won the Grand Prix in 1773, and his seven years in Rome absorbing the lessons of Italian and ancient examples were particularly useful in his development of the Neoclassical style. Upon his return to Paris, Peyron enjoyed patronage that included a commission from King Louis XVI for a painting of the death of Alcestis. The large original version was exhibited in 1785 and is now in the Louvre. The present, later and smaller version of the subject differs in some compositional details

The subject is the conjugal virtue of the heroine of the tragic drama Alcestis by the fifth-century B.C. Greek poet Euripides. When her husband angered the gods, Alcestis volunteered to give her life so that his might be spared. The grieving husband and especially the child heighten the sadness of the death scene.