Thésée et le Minotaure – 200 x 200 cm – Mixed techniques on cow skin
Everyone knows the story of Theseus and the Minotaur. The king of Crete, Minos, angered by the death of his son, ordered the sending to his island, each year, of seven young boys and seven young girls from Athens to be delivered to the Minotaur, a gigantic bull eating human flesh. Theseus, returning from a trip and ignoring the tragic plan of his fellow citizens, decides to accompany them and share their sad fate. The rest we know, assisted by Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos, he enters the labyrinth and kills the Minotaur. What we know less is that Theseus had the monster skinned, tanned his skin and entrusted it to a painter to immortalize his struggle and victory. The last excavations of the temple of Athens have made it possible to find the work created by this artist and it is this trophy that you have in front of you.
