3-042-282 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Bagoas/Bagoe Pleads on Behalf of Nabarzanes; Bagoas Pleads on Behalf of Nabarzanes; Livre des fais d'Alexandre le grant, about 1470-1475. Additional Info: Bagoas, a handsome eunuch in the original narrative but a beautiful woman in Vasco da Lucena's translation and in the miniature, stands before Alexander in a green gown. She wants to persuade Alexander to pardon Nabarzanes, a Persian who had plotted against the Persian king, Darius III. At the right, Queen Thalestris of the Amazons approaches with her followers, hoping that she can persuade Alexander to father a child with her. Although this is just the sort of story that Vasco dismissed as "false and impossible," he reported it in his translation, and the artists followed his lead by including it in the miniature.