Hector Calling Up Paris to a Battle

Angelica Kauffmann painted Hector Calling Up Paris to Battle around 1775, depicting the scene from Homer's Iliad in which the great Trojan warrior reproaches his cowardly brother Paris for hiding from combat during the siege. The Homeric subject was central to Neoclassical history painting's engagement with ancient heroism, and Kauffmann's treatment places the confrontation between heroic duty and sensual indulgence within an elegantly composed domestic setting. Her ability to charge classical subjects with psychological and emotional content — the contrast between Hector's martial urgency and Paris's languid evasion — distinguished her Neoclassical paintings from more archaeological treatments of the same subjects.

Kauffman composes the three figures to emphasize the moral contrast between heroic Hector and languorous Paris. The soft palette and graceful drawing reflect her Roman training.