Achilles was the son of Thetis, a Nereid, or sea-nymph. Knowing the destiny in store for her son, she tried to protect him by dipping him at birth in the waters of the river Styx. This made his body invulnerable except for the heel by which she held him. However, later he was killed by Paris. As he knelt at an altar he was shot by an arrow guided by Apollo to his one vulnerable spot, his heel.
This painting was executed and dated in Antwerp in a style close to that of his father.
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