2-548-482 - © Fine Art Images/Heritage Images

'The Sacrifice of Polyxena', 1730s. According th Greek Mythology, Polyxena was the youngest daughter of King Priam of Troy and his queen, Hecuba. She was killed as a sacrifice after the death of Achilles, who had cofided in her the secret of his sole vulnerability, his heel. Polyxena passed the information on to her brothers, Paris and Deiphobus, who were able to kill Achilles by shooting him in the heel with a poisoned arrow. Found in the collection of the State Hermitage, St Petersburg.