Pellegrino Tibaldi
Catalin Ardelean
Two artworks I chose were ‘The Blinding of Polyphemus’ by Pellegrino Tibaldi and ‘Blinding the Cyclops Polyphemus’ by Catalin Ardelean. These artworks depict when Odysseus and his men who stabbed Polyphemus’s eyes to escape from the Island of Cyclopes. To begin with, Tibaldi’s ‘The Blinding of Polyphemus’ displays the moment when Odysseus blindfolded Polyphemus with an olive wood stake, while Polyphemus was drunk. In the artwork, while Odysseus was stabbing Polyphemus, his men hid behind the wall and just watched Odysseus blind and stab Polyphemus because they were afraid. In relation to the book 9 in line 378, it says, “My men stood around me, and some god inspired us. My men lifted up the olivewood stake and drove the sharp point right into his eye”. As it is mentioned, Odysseus blinded Polyphemus with his men and not by himself. On the contrary, I think the artwork depicted Odysseus killing Polyphemus alone as his men watched. It presented Odysseus to be brave and the ‘hero’ attacking Polyphemus alone.
The artwork overall presents itself in shades of darkness and light. Specifically, Tibaldi focused mainly on Odysseus and his attack on Polyphemus with bright contrast of light; whereas, Odysseus’s men are portrayed in shades of darkness. Tibaldi makes a point in depicting the moment when Polyphemus was attacked as a very important one, also as Odysseus being that one particular ‘hero’ in the light.
On the other hand, Ardelean’s artwork is displayed in ceramics. In ancient Greek, there was a culture to engrave stories of Greek mythology. Unlike Tibaldi’s artwork, Ardelean displayed ‘Batman’ and other men attack Polyphemus together. There is a peculiar part of Ardelean’s artwork and that is, that there is a Batman displayed. Ardelean mentioned, “I chose to emphasize this connection by replacing the ancient heroes with comic book heroes. The scenes in which the heroes appear are like the illustration on the Greek ceramic pots”. In my opinion, Ardelean had emphasized a hero by color. As it is represented in the artwork, Odysseus was replaced by Batman and Batman stands out from the overall depiction in the ceramic due to the fill-in of the color dark blue. It is the only color other than black that is portrayed in the ceramic which makes Batman to stand out from others and pertaining to the story behind the drawing, to be known as the ‘hero’.
The second artwork by Ardelean is very creative, in which Odysseus is portrayed as Batman. I also agree with your point that not Odysseus alone, but with the help of his comrades stabs Polyphemus. Perhaps Tibaldi wants to highlight the bravery of Odyeesus as “hero”. However, based on historical events, most heroes’ success not only depends on their positive characteristics but also relies on the joint effort of their allies.
In addition, Polyphemus by Ardelean in the second picture looks so weak, no as strong as the description in the book. I understand the artist may intend to stand Odysseus out, but his image will mislead someone who has not ever read the Odyssey, making them assuming that stabbing Polyphemus is not a difficult thing.
Dear Sam,
You have done a great job choosing images to compare, and your analysis is thoughtful and thorough. That Ardelean piece is delightful–I had never seen it before, and it’s great! Do you think he’s making a point about heroes? For the ancient Greeks, Odysseus. For us, Batman. And, if so, why does he layer the temporalities, portraying one figure (as you note, in color) as modern, but using ancient representational strategies for the others? I don’t know if your research showed you any Greek ceramics, but Ardelean is very cleverly imitating ancient pottery decoration techniques here.
Really nice work.
Best,
Prof Kolb