Assignment 2- The Meeting of Odysseus and Nausicaa

Jacob Jordaens I’s piece

Pieter Lastman’s piece

I have chosen two pieces that illustrate the scene where a mostly naked Odysseus meets Nausicaa and her maidens after his shipwreck. One piece is by Belgian artist Jacob Jordaens, while the second piece is by Dutch artist Pieter Lastman. What initially struck me about these two images is the way in which the artists have depicted the kind of vulnerability and maybe a little desperation that Odysseus was displaying in that scene in front of Nausicaa as he was in need of help. Jacob Jordaens I’s piece has Odysseus emerging from the bushes with one knee bent and his hands together in a begging motion.Pieter Lastman’s piece, on the other hand, has Odysseus on both knees and with his two hands outwards and wide apart. Despite the physical differences in the way that both artists have shown Odysseus to be presenting himself in that scene, they both communicate how Odysseus was feeling and how he was willing to physically put himself in a vulnerable position in order to gain assistance. I think that Pieter Lastman downplays the high social status that Nausicaa was in with the way that he has painted the clothes she has on. In comparison to Jacob Jordaens I’s piece, which has Nausicaa in what appears to be more lavish clothing with stronger colors, Pieter Lastman’s Nausicaa does not look as “grand” or princess-like as I pictured her to look when I read that scene. Her clothing, instead, looks like the clothing that we see the rest of the women in the scene to be wearing. She stands out because she is more apart from these other women who tend to her. The colors in general all throughout Jacob Jordaens I’s piece are stronger, bolder, and brighter than they are in Pieter Lastman’s work.