# Theseus Finding His Father's Sword [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [POUSSIN, Nicolas]() - Date: 1601-1650 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 98 x 134 cm ## Commentary Theseus Finding His Father's Sword c. 1635 Oil on canvas, 98 x 134 cm Musée Condé, Chantilly The scene shows the Greek hero Theseus lifting a great stone to which his mother Aithra has led him. His father. King Aegeus, had hidden his sword and sandals beneath it before Theseus' birth, to enable him to identify his illegitimate son later on: if the latter was strong enough to lift the stone and bring the items back to him, Aegeus would recognize him as his son and make him the heir to his throne. This painting was executed with the collaboration of Jean Lemaire. ## Related artworks - [A Bacchic Scene]() - [A Dance to the Music of Time]() - [A Roman Road]() - [A Sacrifice]() - [Acis and Galatea]() - [Adoration of the Magi]() - [Annunciation]() - [Apollo and Daphne]() - [Apollo and Daphne]() - [Apollo and the Muses \(Parnassus\)]() - [Armida Carrying off Rinaldo]() - [Assumption of the Virgin]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()