Tomyris and Cyrus

Painted in 1718 and held by the Musée des Augustins in Toulouse, this large history painting depicting Tomyris—the Scythian queen who defeated and killed Cyrus the Great of Persia—represents Largillière working in the elevated genre of history painting that his contemporaries considered superior to portraiture. The subject had been treated by previous French painters, including one attributed to Rubens, and carried a strong moral dimension: the triumph of a female ruler over an arrogant male aggressor. At 1718, Largillière was at the height of his fame and could command commissions across all genres, though history painting remained occasional in his output. The choice of Tomyris—one of antiquity's celebrated warrior queens—aligned with a tradition of depicting powerful women that had particular resonance in the French academic tradition. Toulouse's Augustins collection is one of the most important regional French museums for academic and Baroque painting.

The history painting format required Largillière to manage multiple figures, dramatic action, and classical costume—challenges quite different from portraiture. His approach drew on Flemish compositional models, particularly Rubens, whose influence on Largillière was acknowledged from his Antwerp training. The figure of Tomyris would have been treated with the same psychological intensity he brought to portrait faces, grounding the historical drama in individual human presence.