When Anthony van Dyck painted Achilles discovered by Ulysses and Diomedes in 1617, he was just eighteen years old, already working in the bustling studio of Peter Paul Rubens. The subject was a favorite among the Antwerp elite, who delighted in classical tales that mingled wit and heroism. This painting is one of the earliest known treatments of the myth by a Flemish artist, and it is remarkable for how it captures both the theatricality and tension of the moment.

No contemporary description survives, but the work’s early fame is suggested by the number of later copies and engravings it inspired. The scene unfolds in the women’s quarters of King Lycomedes, where Achilles’ mother has hidden him, disguised as a girl, to prevent his fated death at Troy. Van Dyck chooses the instant when Ulysses and Diomedes, suspecting the ruse, present gifts to the maidens—jewelry and silks, but also weapons. While the others reach for trinkets, Achilles, unable to resist, grasps a sword, betraying his identity.

Van Dyck’s Achilles stands out in both gesture and gaze, his hand lingering on the blade, while the light picks out his athletic form amid the softer figures. The composition’s dynamism and psychological interplay recall Rubens’s own mythological scenes, yet the youthful Van Dyck brings a sharper focus to the moment of revelation. The painting’s early history is not fully documented, but it likely remained in private hands in Antwerp before entering the Spanish royal collections. Its attribution to Anthony van Dyck was once debated, given the influence of Rubens visible in its style, but consensus now affirms the young artist’s hand.

Today, Achilles discovered by Ulysses and Diomedes hangs in the Museo del Prado, a testament to Van Dyck’s precocious talent and to the enduring appeal of classical myth in the Baroque age. Its survival allows us to trace the evolution of Van Dyck’s art, from his apprenticeship in Antwerp to his later fame in Genoa and London.