Lot 163: Helen Thornycroft (British, 1840-1912)

The training of Theseus
signed and dated 1889
watercolour
49 x 60 cm.

Royal Academy of Arts, 1889, no.1342.

Letter on verso inscribed: 'To my very dear Thorny with my love from Helen Thornycroft.'

According to Plutarch's 'Lives', Aegeus, the king of Athens hid a sword and a pair of shoes under a large rock. Aegeus told Aethra, with whom he had lain, that if she gave birth to a son who could lift the rock, the sword and shoes would be his and she could reveal to the boy the identity of his true father. Theseus lifted the rock with ease, identifying himself as the heir to the kingdom of Athens.