Great Works of Literature I (Fall 2017)

The two paintings here portray the blinding of the Cyclops by Odysseus. Although they portray the same scene, the way it is portrayed is vastly different. The painting on the left focuses on the brutality if the scene. The face Odysseus makes while blinding the Cyclops indicates some sort of brutality and rage on his part. The Cyclops crying out in pain with a stick in his eye is also an image that sears into the mind.  However, it isn’t an accurate portrayal of the text.  In the text, Odysseus and his crew mates carry the stick together to blind the Cyclops. I think this painting downplays that in order to make Odysseus more heroic than he is in the text. The painting on the right however, is a more accurate depiction of the text. It shows the teamwork that Odysseus used in the text that the left painting completely ignores. Even though the Cyclops is about to get blinded in this painting, there is still a sense of peacefulness present here, especially with the way the fire turns into a curled smoke. Something that should be noted is the placement of Odysseus in both paintings. On the left he is right in the center, but on the right he’s more closer to the edge of the painting.  This could mean the the actual act of blinding the Cyclops isn’t the main focus of the right image. In fact, the focus of this painting is to highlight the grand size difference between the Cyclops and Odysseus (and his crew). Another thing that should be noted is how the Cyclops looks in both paintings. In the right painting the Cyclops is much more of a beast than the painting on the left. The out of shape body, the fangs on his teeth make him look like a horrific monster. The left painting  however, makes him look like a human. He has a defined body, maintained hair and a normal looking mouth. In fact, the Cyclops in this painting could pass for a Greek god if he had one more eye.

Virtual Art and Odyssey

Figure 1.0:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circe_Offering_the_Cup_to_Ulysses#/media/File:Circe_Offering_the_Cup_to_Odysseus.jpg

Figure 1.1: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_William_Waterhouse_-_Ulysses_and_the_Sirens_(1891).jpg

The Odyssey is one of the major poems that is attributed to homer. It was written during the period where a great ancient Greek mythology is believed to have happened. The poem focusses on the king of Ithaca known as Odysseus and his journey after the fall of Troy after the Trojan war. During his absence, Odyssey is believed to have died and returns home only to find that some suitors wanted his wife’s- Penelope hand in marriage.

One of the great artists whose work represented the Odyssey period is John William Waterhouse. In figure 1.0, Odysseus is being offered an enchanted cup by Circe. This is the cup that turns him and his men into violent individuals and assists them to fight through the Trojan War.  The figure is also used by Waterhouse to explain the adventures that Odysseus and his man had throughout the time when they were involved in the war. The adventure represented in the picture is particularly helpful as it was the turning point where Odysseus and his men received the motivation to accomplish their mission during the war. The painting also presents the neoclassicism nature of Waterhouse which is said to have been influenced by Pre-Raphaelites (Gill).

In figure 1.1 Waterhouse demonstrates some of the dangers that Odysseus and his men were to go through in the sea as warned by Circe. The dangers were those of sirens that came from sea nymphs. In the picture, Odysseus orders that he be tied to a mast so that he would not escape at the sound of the sirens. He was not willing to escape even when he knew he would be in danger out of his resolve to fight the Trojan war and win it. The painting is a representation of predators who meet their prey instead of luring them (Gill).

Works Cited

Gill, N S. “See Art Based On the Odyssey.” ThoughtCo. N.p., 2017. Web. 24 Sept. 2017.

Jan Brueghel the Elder – Odysseus and Calypso

The scene that I focused on in The Odyssey, was Odysseus and Calypso in Ogyia. The first illustration is by Jan Brueghel the Elder, his painting illustrates a very serene and utopian like cave. This helps the readers understand why Odysseus stayed on the island for 7 years, especially since he was forced to stay. Jan Brueghel focused on making the cave appear luscious and fertile by using a lot of earthy colors. He also painted servants which I didn’t expect to see. Since the book said it was just Odysseus and Calypso on the island. We can also see that he has them embracing each other, which to me suggest that they were happily in love in their heavenly cave. Re-analyzing both painting I feel that Jan Brueghel paintings can be viewed as the beginning/early years of Odysseus in Ogyia, because for a while he was happy to be on the island.

Arnold Böcklin- Odysseus and Calypso

In Arnold Böcklin painting of Calypso and Odysseus, he shows them on opposite sides of each other. He has painted Odysseus a bluish/black figure facing the sea to illustrate that he is brooding and thinking about his life in Ithaca. While goddess Calypso sits on a red blanket on top of a rock longing for him, and ready to play the lyre to entertain him. I felt this portrait was more accurate, since it tied in very closely with the book. Jan Brueghel paints the happier version of Ogyia. On the other hand, Arnold Böcklin paints a more realistic version of the relationship between Calypso and Odysseus.  Böcklin’s painting also gives insight to readers that it is 7 years later and his mood and the physical appearance of Ogyia are no longer pleasant for him.

In this picture Gustave Dore, a very famous French artist considered one of the greatest painters of his time, displays the Princess Circe in the process of transforming Odysseus’ soldiers into pigs. Furthermore, the Princess Circe is portrayed as a graceful and beautiful woman, with long curly hair and delicate facial factions. On the other hand, we have the pigs, who are in fact Odysseus’ soldiers already converted into animals. It is difficult to know if all of them are pigs since the shape of the heads of some creatures look like wolves. However, we can identify some of them by the shape of their teeth and paws. We can also appreciate the process of transformation as it happens on one of the men, who appears to be struggling against the poison to remain “normal” after being a victim of Circe’s charm and poisoned sweet red wine.

Allori Alessandro is the artist responsible for the following picture. In contrast to the first image, this picture shows the Princess Circe as a more provocative figure, that besides beauty, displays sexual attraction as a tool to manipulate her “guests”. In addition, this painting also shows the fragment of the epic where Hermes intercepts Odysseus (who was on his way to Circe’s palace) to give him an antidote and a piece of advice to survive Circes’ poison and tricks respectively. On the background of this image, we can also see some of Odysseus soldiers, who look distressed and fearful as they try to defend from no apparent threat near them.

To my perception, this is the image that agrees the most to the mental image I created at first when I read this part of the epic. However, it’s not quite the same. The flower that Hermes gives Odysseus is white. Furthermore, we don’t have a single pig in the image even though all of Odysseus soldiers sent to the recognition round were converted into pigs.

The Blinding of Polyphemus – Pellegrino Tibaldi (1527-1596)

The Blinding of Polyphemus, painted in 1580 by Alessandro Allori

The two pieces of art I choose on the odyssey depicts the scene where Odysseus and his men use a staff to blind Cyclops. Although these two paintings depict the same scene they interpret it in completely different ways.

In the first picture, by Pellegrino Tibaldi, Odysseus is stabbing Cyclops in the eye with a sharpened stick by himself. Odysseus is in the light, blinding Cyclops by himself while his men are standing back in the shadows watching. This picture emphasizes Odysseus’ bravery and heroics since he is blinding Cyclops himself while Cyclops is just screaming. The artist downplays Cyclops’ strength because although the bones of Odysseus’ eaten men are on the floor Cyclops just looks like a giant man in the picture and is only screaming while Odysseus blinds him. Cyclops does not look very threatening in the depiction. The bright color and light on Odysseus shows that he is a heroic god-like figure while his men standing back in the dark colors could be foreshadowing their death in the story.

In the second picture, by Alessandro Alloriin, Odysseus looks like less of a hero Odysseus and his men are blinding Cyclops while he is seemingly pinned down by them. In this picture Odysseus is almost indistinguishable from his men and Cyclops doesn’t seem like such a big giant or threat. This depiction of the scene makes Odysseus look less courageous and godly since he is working with his men and blinding a much smaller depiction of Cyclops. Odysseus and his men blinding Cyclops while the other Cyclopes in the background can’t see them makes Odysseus and his men seem less heroic. This picture emphasizes Odysseus and his men’s urgency and secrecy of wanting to escape from Cyclops, like how they escaped with the sheep in the story. The picture downplays Odysseus’ bravery and heroics because he is indistinguishable from his men. The pale colors make it seem more of a secret attack and run instead of a heroic attack like in the other picture.

James Singh

Ulysses and the Sirens, by Herbert James Draper displays a very romanticized depiction of the Sirens. They are portrayed as very feminine, with long beautiful hair and pieces of cloth gracefully draped over their bodies. The Sirens are also in a way sexualized as they are nude and very exposed in front of all these men. This could be representative of the artists’ perspective on women enchanting men with their bodies. In the Odyssey, the Sirens lure men with their voices, but do not come face to face as depicted by Draper’s painting. The Sirens are very much coming into contact with Odysseus and his men and are violently trying to lure them. Draper’s painting of the Sirens gives them a very human aspect, which is not evident in the Odyssey. They are essentially just beautiful women attacking Odysseus and his men, trying to make them “unwelcome home by their wives and children”. Draper’s human like depiction of the Sirens goes slightly against what women represent in the Odyssey. In the Odyssey, women are very much monstrous. The Sirens eventually kill men, Scylla eats them and Charybdis drowns them. In Draper’s painting the Sirens are quite beautiful and almost innocent. Maybe Draper was trying to portray that women enchant men with their beauty and sexuality and it is that sexual power which presents the greatest danger for men. While in the Odyssey, the Sirens are not quite beautiful and seem to be evil as there is no male figure in their lives to exert some kind of control. The Sirens are monsters because they have no man to grieve for and are allowed to roam the sea freely. They are for that reason presented as dangerous. Draper’s sirens are very light skinned and wear bright colors, which depicts them as much less dangerous than they are. Draper could be trying to display that the greatest danger is often hidden behind an innocent appearance. While it could also be representative of the man and woman dynamic of the Victorian era, which Draper was a part of. Women are pure and untouched while men are beaten by their travels and worn out, which perhaps displays them as the workers or providers for the family. What is interesting about Draper’s painting is how the Sirens’ tails start disappearing as they get on board of the ship. What this could represent is that the Sirens are offering their bodies to the men or maybe that they are trying to seduce them with human-like appearance and femininity. As they are in company of men, the Sirens start losing their identity and simply become women.

John William Waterhouse’s depiction of the Sirens is very different than Draper’s. It is much more representative of Homer’s image of the sirens. In the Odyssey, birds are often seen as omen. And the fact that Waterhouse painted the Sirens as half birds could be a representation of women as carriers of bad luck and disaster. They are not very beautiful at all and are quite repelling. As opposed to Draper’s Sirens, Waterhouse’s Sirens are much more darker and more animal than human. They do not acquire a human body and do not use it as a way to seduce men. Odysseus and his men are portrayed as pray much more than subjects of Sirens’ fancy. They are almost like food, waiting to be eaten by the Sirens. Once again, the Sirens do not wait for the men to come to them, but rather face them face to face. However, this image of the Sirens, portrays a very scary amount of power that women have over men. In Draper’s image, the Sirens utilized their bodies and femininity as a way to perhaps entrap men. While in Waterhouse’s depiction, the Sirens do not need their bodies and femininity, they have the ultimate control. Therefore, perhaps Waterhouse could be depicting women in a good light. Birds do often represent wisdom and perhaps it is the women’s intellect or wise words which make them superior to men in Waterhouse’s view. Giving a woman a voice or power could be disastrous. Maybe it is the woman’s intellect which scares men and presents the greatest danger.

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’.

Odysseus and the Sirens – Herbert James Draper (1864-1920)

The Need for Odysseus to hear the song of the sirens really intrigued me. His inclination for knowledge led him to put himself through agony just to know what it was like. These artists (John William Waterhouse and Herbert James Draper) Both portray Odysseus and the Sirens very differently. One very noticeable difference is the what the sirens look like. In Waterhouse oil canvas he portrays the sirens as crows with human heads. This portrays them as scavengers merely trying to peck at Odysseus and his men. They could be seen getting face to face with the members of the crew who are rowing but cannot see them from what the image portrays. In Drapers art piece though he portrays the sirens as grand beauties. He shows them as beautiful being that are merely trying to bring Odysseus and him men to bliss rather then to death. Some of the Sirens he draws as mermaids and some he draws with full human legs. This is a much more humanized version of the sirens. Rather than see these woman as monsters we see them as inciting and kind. This though is completely contradictory to how Waterhouse portrays them, as crows and scavengers who mean harm to his men.

Odysseus and the Sirens – John William Waterhouse (1849-1917)

The second aspect of these paintings is how Odysseus looks in both of them. In Draper’s painting Odysseus looks crazed by the sound of the sirens. His eyes drifting up, having a look of agony in them. This look is most likely due to the power of the sirens song. In Waterhouse’s painting though Odysseus face is not shown. This is a weird choice as he only shows the side of the face. In His painting Odysseus looks like he is calm as to suggest that he is unaffected by the songs of the sirens. This may be due to the fact that he can see the sirens straight ahead so Waterhouse wants to imply that they are not affecting him as much as they should be. Another important fact is the similarity in how the men on the boat are portrayed. They are shown with covers on their heads as to allude to them blocking of their own ears.

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.

Pieter Lastman (1583-1633) Odysseus and Nausicaa (1619).

Louis Gauffier (1762-1801) Ulysses and Nausicaa (1798)

           From several obstacles along his ways to return home, Odysseus struggles, gets lost and suffers. As his tiredness after shipwreck, laying on the coast of the island of Phaeacia, suddenly fatigued Odysseus was awoken by the sound of princess Nausicaa and handmaidens playing games. Approaching princess Nausicaa with his completely naked body, the moment Odysseus asks Nausicaa for helps has been depicted through many artworks; as I have chosen two pieces of this same scene but different artists, one piece is a work of Pieter Lastman (1583-1633) Odysseus and Nausicaa (1619) and another piece is Louis Gauffier (1762-1801) Ulysses and Nausicaa (1798).

             Through two pieces of paintings, the works have been illustrated with different composition and colors. In addition to chaotic background of handmaidens that seems to be a contrast point among two works, what best specialized I have seen through paintings is the unspoken posture of main characters, such Odysseus and Nausicaa, that the artist expresses their interpreted perception.

              Emotion on handmaidens’ face and chaotic background of handmaidens of Pieter Lastman piece has very well provided a visualization mood of startled and frighten when Odysseus appears naked. While Louis Gauffier piece seems to have a downplay of less riotous composition of handmaidens, a posture of Nausicaa under her dress that the artist uses white color contrasting to other’s dress color and her opened arm posture facing toward Odysseus in Pieter Lastman piece shown Nausicaa’s grace, pity and understanding that she has for Odysseus. In the same way, a perception of Odysseus’ pleading and entreaty as he approaches Nausicaa and asks for aids has been expressed through his posture in both artworks.