Ulysses Escapes the Cyclops’s Cave and Embarks with a Companion
Medium
figures
Classification
figures
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Museum purchase through gift of various donors
Accession Number
1901-39-2224
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Research in Progress
Art Historical Context
Felice Giani, an artist active during the late 18th and early 19th centuries (8–1823), a dramatic moment from Homer's *Odyssey* in *Ulysses Escapes the Cyclops Cave and Embarks with a Companion*. This work depicts clever hero Odysseus and a companion fleeing the cave of the one-eyed giant Polyphemus after him in a bid for survival—a tale of ingenuity and heroism that has inspired artists for centuries. Giani, a neoclassical painter and draftsman influenced by ancient Roman art and contemporaries like Giovanni Battista Piranesi, often drew from classical mythology to evoke the grandeur of antiq...