Mercury Orders Calypso to Allow Ulysses Depart
Medium
etching
Dimensions
sheet: 42.7 × 53.3 cm · platemark: 35.7 × 47.9 cm
Classification
Department
Prints
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of James A. Bergquist in Loving Memory of Katherine Lee Reid
Accession Number
2023.210
Tags
male
About this artwork
In Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus spends seven years captive to the nymph Calypso. Despite Calypso’s charms, Odysseus longed to return home to his family. In this composition, De Lairesse depicts the moment when the Olympian gods intervene, sending Hermes to release Odysseus from Calypso’s captivity. The Dutch De Lairesse brought French artistic taste to the Netherlands, reflected here in the firmly modeled, idealized figures and classical architecture.