04 November 2012

Hellelil and Hilderbrand,The Meeting on the Turret Stairs by Frederic William Burton



This painting (1864) depicts the ill-fated lovers Hellelil and Hildebrand, meeting on the stone stairway of a medieval tower. The princess and her bodyguard had fallen in love but her father regarded the young soldier as an unsuitable match for his daughter and ordered his sons to kill him. The painting captures the couple’s poignant final embrace.

The painting is a popular fixture in the National Gallery of Ireland.


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