The Triumphs of Ulysses

Interesting online lecture from the National Gallery analysing two paintings in the collection which illustrate episodes in Homer’s Odyssey.

Katy Tabard started by looking a Turner’s “Ulysses Deriding Polyphemus” from 1829 showing how it looks at the specific moment when Ulysses problems getting home following the war started. It shows the moment where, having tricked the cyclops, Polyphemus, by saying his name was Nobody, Ulysses cannot resist telling him who he really is so bringing down the wrath of Polyphemus’s father Poseidon. She talked about sketches Turner had made in Rome which fed into the work and possible inspirations.

She then turned to the end of the story in Pinturicchio’s “Penelope with the Suitors” from the 1520s looking at how it combines various elements of the story in one image including elements from the journey in a sea scene through a window behind Penelope who is weaving. She also talked about how this was commissioned for a wedding and how Penelope’s fidelity is a suitable subject.  

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