Oenone (left end panel)

Francesco di Giorgio's Oenone is an unusual mythological panel depicting the nymph who was Paris's first love before he abandoned her for Helen of Troy. The subject's rarity in Italian painting suggests a sophisticated private humanist commission for a learned patron familiar with Ovid's Heroides, which included a letter from the abandoned Oenone. Francesco di Giorgio's mythological excursions demonstrate the breadth of his intellectual culture alongside his more frequently documented religious and architectural achievements.

Francesco di Giorgio's lyrical figure style and delicate landscape setting reflect the refined sensibility of Sienese painting, with the nymph depicted in a graceful pose that demonstrates his elegant draughtsmanship.