Ulysses Before Circe, Mercury Behind
1766
Medium
Red chalk, with touches of wetted red chalk, on cream laid paper
Dimensions
49.9 × 35.9 cm (19 11/16 × 14 3/16 in.)
Classification
drawings (visual works)
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
202292
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
In this scene, Gaetano Gandolfi illustrated the moment from Homer’s epic poem the Odyssey when the hero violently confronts the enchantress Circe, who has transformed his men into swine. In the left foreground, several of Circe’s hybrid victims seem to be in the process of transforming back into men, while behind Ulysses the god Mercury ascends through an arch. The drawing is a tour de force of compositional invention and technical skill, alive with energy and balletic form. Gandolfi’s expert u...
About the Artist
Gaetano Gandolfi · 1734–1802
Gaetano Gandolfi (1734–1802) was an Italian painter and draughtsman who, together with his older brother Ubaldo Gandolfi, represented the finest flowering of the Bolognese school during the eighteenth century. Born in San Matteo della Decima, he trained in Bologna under Felice Torelli and Ercole Lelli before entering the Accademia Clementina, the leading artistic institution in the city, where he ...