Lot Essay
This drawing is an illustration to Homer, The Odyssey, Book X, vv. 321-324:
So she spoke, but I drawing my sharp sword from beside my
thigh, rushed upon Circe, as though I would slay her. But she, with a loud cry, ran beneath, and clasped my knees, and with
wailing she spoke to me winged words.
(Translated A.T. Murray, Loeb Classical Library)
This was a frequennt theme within the broad tradition of heroic representations in classical art, as well as in post-Renaissance art. The drawing incorporates elements, such as the terrace setting, which had become a standard part of the convention by the 18th Century. A certain freedom in handling the text was also encouraged - although this is pretty characteristic of Fuseli in general.
The presence in the picture of Hermes and timorous crouching Eurylochus represents a deliberate displacement of the action of heightened dramatic effect: Eurylochus, the only member of the crew to excape Circe's spells, actually remains behind at the ship after warning Odysseus; Hermes appears to Odysseus and instructs him how to handle Circe while he is on his way to Circe's house. In Homer's text Odysseus is unaccompanied when he confronts Circe. Eurylochus is holding his nose because of the foul odour wafting from the magic herb moly in the centre foreground behind Circe's wand. (There is almost as little deliberate sense of humour in Fuseli's work as there is in that of his great idol, Milton!)
So she spoke, but I drawing my sharp sword from beside my
thigh, rushed upon Circe, as though I would slay her. But she, with a loud cry, ran beneath, and clasped my knees, and with
wailing she spoke to me winged words.
(Translated A.T. Murray, Loeb Classical Library)
This was a frequennt theme within the broad tradition of heroic representations in classical art, as well as in post-Renaissance art. The drawing incorporates elements, such as the terrace setting, which had become a standard part of the convention by the 18th Century. A certain freedom in handling the text was also encouraged - although this is pretty characteristic of Fuseli in general.
The presence in the picture of Hermes and timorous crouching Eurylochus represents a deliberate displacement of the action of heightened dramatic effect: Eurylochus, the only member of the crew to excape Circe's spells, actually remains behind at the ship after warning Odysseus; Hermes appears to Odysseus and instructs him how to handle Circe while he is on his way to Circe's house. In Homer's text Odysseus is unaccompanied when he confronts Circe. Eurylochus is holding his nose because of the foul odour wafting from the magic herb moly in the centre foreground behind Circe's wand. (There is almost as little deliberate sense of humour in Fuseli's work as there is in that of his great idol, Milton!)