HOW HOMER BECAME GREAT ART – THE ODYSSEY/UNRECOGNISED BY PENELOPE, HE TAKES COMMAND (BOOKS 19-21)

Homer’s Odyssey, one of the greatest epic poems ever written, tells its story as a film would, in non-stop episodes of action and flashback. Its pages are alive with the dramatic adventures of the Greek hero Odysseus (also known to us as Ulysses) who, ten years after the end of the war at Troy, has still not come home to the island of Ithaca. In fact, his life has been locked into a wandering voyage made thrilling by danger and enchantment in spectacular encounters with the elemental and supernatural worlds. Artists ever since have loved The
Odyssey with graphic energy and their imaginings illuminate the finest translations of this poem into English. Classical Art’s visions of the poem when it was new create exciting contrasts with paintings, watercolours and drawings by Pinturicchio, Titian, Brueghel, Rubens, Poussin, Claude Lorrain, Angelica Kauffmann, Fuseli, David, Turner, Ingres, Corot, Leighton, Waterhouse, Matisse, Chagall and di Chirico, and exquisite sets of illustrations by Flaxman and Flint.

Penelope still does not know her long-lost husband when they meet at night, although a scar nearly gives him away. Now for the ruse of staging a competition to see who can draw Odysseus’s bow. The showdown nears, with Penelope safely in bed asleep. One by one, the suitors fail to draw the bow-string. Then comes Odysseus’s turn. He succeeds.

Register to tell a friend about this lecture.

Comments

If you would like to comment about this lecture, please register here.

©2003-2006 Niminim Limited. Created by

Any ad revenue is entirely reinvested into the Lecture List's operating fund