Ulysses at the Plough
Drawing
1540s (drawn)
1540s (drawn)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
The drawing illustrates an episode from the Greek poem Odyssey (8th-7th century BC). Ulysses, the main caracter at the center of this epic story, was involved in the Trojan war against his will. The 10-year long conflict had broken up when Ulysses' friend Telemachus asked some of his friends, former suitors of his beautiful wife Helen, to help him to liberate her from Troy, city where Paris brought her after abducting her.
Trying to avoid going to the battle, Ulysses feigned madness by sowing his fields with salt, as it is shown in the left handside of this drawing. His friends, Palamedes, Menelaus and Agamemnon, hidden behind a tree in the right handside of the drawing, decided to force him to give up his pretence of madness by placing Telemachus, Ulysses' infant son, before the advancing plough.
Trying to avoid going to the battle, Ulysses feigned madness by sowing his fields with salt, as it is shown in the left handside of this drawing. His friends, Palamedes, Menelaus and Agamemnon, hidden behind a tree in the right handside of the drawing, decided to force him to give up his pretence of madness by placing Telemachus, Ulysses' infant son, before the advancing plough.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Ulysses at the Plough |
| Materials and techniques | Pen and ink, wash |
| Brief description | Castello, Giovanni Battista; Ulysses at the Plough; turning his cattle on one side that he may not hurt his infant son Telemachus. Palamedes and friends look on; Pen and ink, wash; Italian; 1540s. |
| Physical description | Ulysses at the Plough; turning his cattle on one side that he may not hurt his infant son Telemachus. Palamedes and his friends are watching him from behind some trees; Pen and ink, wash. |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions | Inscribed on the back, in J. Richardson Jr. handwriting, with an account of the subject of the drawing |
| Credit line | Bequeathed by Rev. Alexander Dyce |
| Object history | Dyce Bequest |
| Production | The drawing was published in Peter Ward-Jackson catalogue (1979, no. 122) as by Romulo Cincinnato. It was attributed to Castello by Popham (see Ward-Jackson) and by Hugo Chapman ('A modello by Giovanni Battista Castello, il Bergamasco', The Burlington Magazine, 1995, vol. 137, no. 1104), pp. 170-172). Catalogued as by Taddeo Zuccaro in the Dyce catalogue. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Literary reference | Odyssey by Homer: the subject depicted shows how Agamennon, Menelaus and Palamedes forced Ulysses to give up his pretence of madness by placing his infant son Telemachus before the advancing plough. |
| Summary | The drawing illustrates an episode from the Greek poem Odyssey (8th-7th century BC). Ulysses, the main caracter at the center of this epic story, was involved in the Trojan war against his will. The 10-year long conflict had broken up when Ulysses' friend Telemachus asked some of his friends, former suitors of his beautiful wife Helen, to help him to liberate her from Troy, city where Paris brought her after abducting her. Trying to avoid going to the battle, Ulysses feigned madness by sowing his fields with salt, as it is shown in the left handside of this drawing. His friends, Palamedes, Menelaus and Agamemnon, hidden behind a tree in the right handside of the drawing, decided to force him to give up his pretence of madness by placing Telemachus, Ulysses' infant son, before the advancing plough. |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | DYCE.192 |
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| Record created | November 30, 2006 |
| Record URL |
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