Two Young Men Confessing to Alexander the Great their Conspiracy

What it is

This is a painting of a dimly lit room held by the National Gallery of Denmark. On the left, a seated shirtless man with short hair looks toward a bed. In the center, a young man in a yellow tunic covers his face with his hands while another figure in a pale robe leans toward him. On the right, a figure with flowing blond hair and a pink and blue drape raises one arm high. The artist is not named in the facts.

Why it matters

The painting shows a moment from the story of a plot against Alexander. The scene is drawn from ancient historians' accounts of the conspiracy by the pages, young men of his household. The painting is a later work, so it shows how artists in a later period chose to picture this story, not what the people involved actually looked like.

Look closer

• Who seems to be confessing, and how do their body positions show guilt or fear?
• What does the lighting and the room suggest about the mood of the scene?
• What does the painting leave out about the reasons behind the conspiracy?