This relief by Antonio Lombardo shows Philoctetes, the Greek archer who accidentally wounded himself with one of Hercules's poisoned arrows. The stench of the wound was so bad that he was abandoned on an island by Odysseus on the way to Troy. (They did return and rescue him.)
The idea of setting a piece of coloured marble into the work came from a group of paintings by Mantegna that were made for Isabella d'Este, the Marchioness of Mantua.
Lombardo was also an influence on painters. Cima used him as a source for facial types and figures - illustrated here by his painting of Saint Jerome.
Top: Antonio Lombardo 'Philoctetes', about 1510-15 © The Victoria and Albert Museum.
Bottom left: Detail from Andrea Mantegna, 'A Woman Drinking', about 1495-1506.
Bottom right: Detail from Cima da Conegliano, Giovanni Battista, 'Saint Jerome in a Landscape', about 1500-10.
