Odysseus Myth

University of Tulsa
Before "Ulysses": Victorian Iconography of the Odysseus Myth

Author(s): Joseph A. Kestner
Source: James Joyce Quarterly, Vol. 28, No. 3 (Spring, 1991), pp. 565-594
Published by: University of Tulsa
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25485176 .
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Victorian
Before Ulysses:
Iconography of the Odysseus
Myth
Joseph A. Kestner
University of Tulsa
Homer's Odyssey
there were
innumerable
and the production

of Joyce's Ulysses
of
for example,
mediation;
stages
Joyce's reading of Victor B?rard's Les Ph?niciens et l'Odyss?e of
he drew a number of notebook
entries that con
1902, from which
stituted one quarry for the text of Ulysses, material
examined by
scholars from Stuart Gilbert toMichael Groden and Michael Seidel.1
As Hugh Kenner
this cultural milieu
such
observes,
comprised
as
diverse
Lamb's
The
Charles
Adventures
components
of Ulysses
Schliemann's
excavations at Troy (1870-73) and My
(1808), Heinrich
cenae (1876), Samuel Butler's The Authoress of theOdyssey (1897), and
the treatment
of the Ulysses
theme by Vergil, Ovid, and Dante.2
These stages of mediation
between
text and Joyce's
the Homeric
Between
the continuous
demonstrate
my
conceiving
Ulysses
narrative
in
of
the
the
Odyssean
early twentieth century
thopoesis
in the Odyssean
of course, was not
narrative,
Joyce's interest
in the nineteenth
such as Tennyson with
century
unique. Writers
his "Ulysses" of 1842 and Arnold with
"The New Sirens" of 1849,
narrative
for their own cultural
of
the
dimensions
Homeric
deployed
to
doctrine of
the
Victorian
the
instance
first
in
purposes,
critique
the
to
examine
allure
of
the
in
and
second
self-indulgent
progress
into the
Romanticism.
Arnold was to take the Homeric
question
realm of cultural formation with his four lectures on translating
as Professor of Poetry at Oxford in 1860 and 1861,
Homer delivered
es
in additional
and these lectures formed ideas later enunciated
period
of
a
direct style constituting
of Homer's
says, such as the concept
for the evaluation of subsequent writers.
touchstone
were
The consequences
of these lectures for Victorian
society
in
Not
the least of these is the renewed
considerable.
emphasis
art on classical subject themes, many of these from the
Victorian
from the Odyssey. Classical subject
Homeric
texts, and particularly
to the insular,
art arose in Victorian
culture as a counter-movement
565

but it also intersected with

of the Pre-Raphaelites,
agnosticism,
imperialism,
involving
ideologies
and construction
of gen
social mobility,
centralized
government,
or victimiza
and female venality
dered ideologies of male heroism
tion. A distinguished
group of artists, including Frederic Leighton,
Edward J.Poynter, Herbert James Draper,
William
Waterhouse,
John
and Edward Armitage,
Blake Richmond,
William
others,
among
narrative as a rich source of cultural
were drawn to the Odyssean
and its classical
between
society
nineteenth-century
negotiation
meticulous
Victorian
detail
cultural
analogue.3
involv
The consequence was a considerable body of iconography
a
the
cultural
constituted
which
Homer's
text,
century
during
ing
for the
such as Joyce. It is particularly
for writers
milieu
significant
a
were generated
that such paintings
culture
of
during
poetics
the
wide
dis
new reproduction
when
processes
permitted
period
to those who
could not attend
the
semination
of these canvases
of the Royal Academy
or, later, the Grosvenor
annual exhibitions
the Cassell
series Royal
In particular,
Gallery or the New Gallery.
until
and
1888
in
1916, re
continuing
Academy Pictures, begun
at
the
annual
exhibited
of
hundreds
May exhibi
pictures
produced
annual
volumes
of the
tion. The Cassell series was supplemented
by
Ch'atto and Windus Academy Notes and Grosvenor Notes as well as the
Pall Mall Pictures and the Sampson Low and Marston
Royal Academy
which
Illustrated.4 Inmany instances, it is these reproductions
allow
a historian of cultural poetics to reconstruct the replication
of Odys
sean motifs during the late Victorian and Edwardian
It also
periods.
access
means
that writers,
to
could
have
these
including
Joyce,
even if not attending
seen
materials
exhibitions.
could
have
Joyce
or
such exhibition
even
on
in
Dublin
the
continent.
catalogues
in a cultural milieu
Ulysses, therefore/was
generated
pervaded
by
of
the
from
British painters,
and while Ar
iconography
Odyssey
nold's essays and Tennyson's poetry provided
literary antecedents
for cultural interest in Homer,
classical subject artists cannot be
excluded from a role in cultural formation
this period. The
during
of
drive
the
culture
that
in
resulted
mythopoeic
Ulysses was intense
inmedia other than literature.
Not all the components
of Joyce's Homeric
for Ulysses
scaffolding
were
treated by these painters.
For example,
of
representations
Oxen of the Sun, Eumaeus,
or Wan
Telemachus, Nestor/Proteus,
dering Rocks seem not to have attracted artists. On the other hand,
Calypso, Circe, Nausicaa,
Sirens, and Lotus Eaters were
Penelope,
in
Victorian
as were numerous
canvases,
powerfully
figured
epi
sodes from the life of
some
not
even included
in the
Odysseus,
566

narrative. Such replication

Homeric
to explore
encouraged writers
a context for the recep
the Homeric
narratives as well as providing
tion and comprehension
of literary texts
deploying Homeric para
as
writer
inherits
the
Thus,
Joyce
digms.
practices of predecessors
or Arnold while
like Tennyson
a text in and for a culture
producing
aware of Homeric
Itmust be stressed that exhibitions
iconography
at the Royal Academy,
the Grosvenor Gallery, and the New
Gallery
were widely
in such publications
reviewed
as The Times, the Art
Journal, the Magazine ofArt, and numerous other journalistic locales.
This reviewing,
in guidebooks
like
coupled with the reproductions
Academy Notes and Grosvenor Notes, assured that the cultural influ
ence of this iconography was not confined
to those who
actually
The volumes
visited the exhibitions.
of Royal Academy Pictures, with
a permanent
their large and detailed plates, constituted
archive of
classical subject material.
The major
classical subject artists could draw on an earlier Vic
nar
torian tradition as a model
for their interest in the Odyssean
was
rative. Preeminent
such
canvas
artists
Turner, with his
among
Ulysses Deriding Polyphemus of 1829, considered by critic John Ruskin
as "the central picture in Turner's career." Turner draws on
Odyssey 9
for the incident but elaborates itwith details such as the representa
tion of the Trojan Horse in the rigging flag. Ruskin's review, however,
reason for Turner's attraction to the subject,
indicated an additional
a hostile, Philistine
the artist confronting
of
its potential
allegory
environment:
He had been himself shut up by one-eyed people,

laurels"..
with
.he had
seen
his
in a cave "darkened
eaten
companions
in the
cave
by
a painter of good promise had fallen

the one-eyed people?(many
by Turner's side in those early toils of his); at last, when his own
time had like to have come, he thrust the rugged pine-trunk-all
ablaze-..
.into
the
faces
of
the
their hair in the cloud-banks?got

under
over
a
'., and
sheep's
belly,
the Enchanted
Islands.5
got
one-eyed
people,
left
them
tearing
out of the cave in a humble way
away
to open
sea
as the dawn
broke
of the painting may well he a source of Joyce's

explanation
attraction to the Odyssean
narrative, its allegorizing of the situation
of the besieged
artist.
were attracted to the
of the mid-Victorian
Other painters
period
some quite striking results. John Linnell
with
narrative,
Odyssean
a canvas
(1792-1882) exhibited The Return of Ulysses (Plate 1) in 1849,
This
the Phaeacians
(Odyssey 13)
obviously
inspired by Turner Here
on the shore of Ithaca at dawn,
the
Odysseus
sleeping
deposit
exhibi
his gifts around him. In the same Royal Academy
unloading
567

tion,William Edward Frost (1810-77)exhibited The Sirens (Plate 2),

from Odyssey 12. Frost
Comus and ultimately
one of the most
and he remains
the nude,
of the classical subject artists. His fellow
predecessors
from Milton's
excelled in painting
derived
important
artistWilliam Etty (1787-1849)exhibited The Sirens andUlysses at the
his ability to
in 1837 (Plate 3), again like Frost demonstrating
the
includes
nude.
Here, however, Etty
decaying
paint the female
to
the
mast
in the
bound
with
dead
bodies of
mariners,
Odysseus
motif was to figure in several later Victorian
latter
This
background.
several can
Edward Armitage
(1817-96) completed
representations.
his
career,
vases with Odyssean
during
long
components
including
the fact that Armitage's
The Return ofUlysses of 1853 (Plate 4). Despite
concen
title echoes that of Linnell's 1848 representation,
Armitage
when
19
on
the episode from Odyssey
trates
Eurycleia,
Odysseus'
lan
old nurse, recognizes him from a scar; to the right, Penelope
The
of
the
following year, Armitage
recognition.
ignorant
guishes,
exhibited the lost Lotus Eater at the Academy, but he did not return to
career with the 1888 A Siren
Odyssean motifs until much later in his
Siren
laid
aside her lyre to expose
the
has
(Plate 5). In this canvas,
on
to
the ships, almost dangerously
the mariners
her naked body
RA
near
the
coast.
The examples established by Turner, Etty, Armitage,

Frost, and
Linnell were to inspire the classical subject artists of the late Vic
on some of these same
torian period who, while
concentrating
aspects of the Homeric narrative,
increasingly
began to emphasize
of the Odyssey, The entire life of Odysseus
other dimensions
became
a focus of their concern, not
only to represent
literary anecdote but
also to fashion a patriarchal code of heroism
for the imperialistic
ethos of Victorian culture. Herbert James Draper (1864-1920),
one of
the most prolific of the classical subject artists, exhibited The Youth
of
over
Ulysses in 1895 (Plate 6), showing the young hero being watched
the threatening
by Athene. The large scale of the goddess
suggests
role of women
inHomer's narrative, whether
in Calypso,
embodied
the Sirens, or Circe. In Homer, however,
is
the
Odysseus
always
favorite of Athene,
and Draper reflects this solicitude
in his canvas,
lost. In the Odyssey, it is Athene who will send Nau
unfortunately
sicaa to the shore (Book 6) and who will intervene in the final conflict
between
the relatives of the
to
suitors and Odysseus
slaughtered
establish peace (Book 24).
Classical subject artists
retro
particularly gravitated to Odysseus'
not
the
spective account of his wanderings,
for
9-12,
Odyssey
only
rich anecdotes
but also for the
in
contained
gendered modeling
these episodes,
constructing male heroism and female venality. One
568

entails the encounter with the Lotus Eaters

of the earliest adventures
in Odyssey 9, a subject rarely treated by any artist but
in
depicted
Hugh G. Riviere's (1869-1956)lost The LotosLandof 1898 (Plate7),

on the shore; the
showing a group of mariners
languishing
impres
sion of the canvas when
exhibited must have been considerable
of its large size, and when
because
contrasted with the Victorian
in Tennyson's
ethos of progress
embodied
"Ulysses" the painting,
with
its wearied
explorers, can well represent a powerful question
ideologies.
ing of Victorian
these artists as
Perhaps no subject from the Odyssey so engrossed
encounter with Circe in Book 10. In
these
Odysseus'
examining
treatments,
however, one should note that Circe was a code word in
Victorian
and liter
journalism for female venality and prostitution,
ature?for
in Hardy's Jude the Obscure
example Arabella Donn
on Circe's nature as a
of female sexuality.
capitalized
paradigm
most
the
famous of these images was Circe
Among
Offering the Cup to
Ulysses (Plate 8), exhibited by JohnWilliam Waterhouse (1849-1917)
in 1891. Waterhouse
shows some of the mariners
already trans
formed into swine as Circe offers the fatal cup to Odysseus,
seen in
the mirror behind Circe's throne, and in fact a self-portrait of the
in the figure of the jeune fille fatale
artist. Waterhouse
specialized
In
Circe.
1892
he completed Circe Jnvidiosa (Plate
this
by
represented
a rival in love. While the latter is
the
9), showing
goddess poisoning
of the Odyssean
not a component
narrative, this tendency to exhibit
two canvases
about Circe in successive years reflects the involve
in the Odyssey myth.
ment ofWaterhouse
In 1897, probably inspired
R.
the
Waterhouse
Thomas
canvas,
Spence (fl. 1876-1903) exhib
by
ited The Temptation of Odysseus by Circe (Plate 10), with Odysseus
on Circe's throne as the goddess haughtily offers the cup.
sitting
of Circe were produced
regularly during the late
Representations
Victorian period by many artists. In 1871, Briton Riviere (1840-1920)
a troop of mariners
trans
exhibited his Circe (Plate 11) showing
formed into swine, while Arthur Hacker (1858-1919) in his Circe of
on a slightly earlier phase of the trans
1893 (Plate 12) concentrates
formation.
John Collier's (1850-1934) Circe of 1885 depicted the god
dess leaning on a tiger, and this semi-reclining
posture was to
as
G.A,
the representations
influence
Storey
by such artists
(1834-1919)with his Circe of 1909 (Plate 13) and Arthur Wardle
in
(1864-1949) and his Circe of 1908 (Plate 14), shown with animals,
with
of
the
this instance
goddess
leopards. The representation
beasts was related to the patriarchal belief that woman's nature was
scale than man's, that woman might
less evolved in the evolutionary
thus closer to bestiality Sculptors,
an
and
atavism
be
evolutionary
569

such asAlfred Drury (1856-1944)with his statue of 1894 (Plate 15),
to the Circe legend. Drury obviously was familiar

the goddess with
1891 canvas, for he represents
with Waterhouse's
included
both
the
with
and
wand,
drained
the cup
by Waterhouse.
were also attracted
The Circeof 1911by George Wetherbee (1851-1920) (Plate 16) shows
a ship below her, almost a

the goddess on a promontory
observing
or even a
of Calypso
that
with
Circe
of
the
of
image
telescoping
is
Barker's
Circe
of
The
Siren.
by Wright
emphasized
bestiality
a
on
skin
herself
while
shown
of
Circe
1912,
tiger
displaying
(7-1941)
and
lions
surrounded by
jackals (Plate 17).
from Vic
Circe drew the greatest amount of attention
Although
the
Homeric
text
of
other
torian mythological
artists,
components
from
Sirens
the
Book
12.
were of considerable
interest, especially
Sirens
in
the
1891
and
with
exhibited Ulysses
Waterhouse
(Plate 18),
women
sur
his trademark of an encircling
group of dangerous
nature
the
of
atavistic
is
female
Here
the
rounding the hero's ship.
claws.
as the Sirens have birdlike bodies and predatory
emphasized,
inventive in having some of the creatures
is particularly
Waterhouse
on the unwary
to pounce
The same
hover in the air, prepared
in
nature is emphasized
Draper's Ulysses and the
predatory, bestial
the
two
of
Sirens are entirely human,
Sirens of 1909 (Plate 19). While
a
an
In
both these representations,
oar, is mermaid.
one, grabbing
are
fearsome because
the threatening women
they are
particularly
waters.
not on the island but rather prowling
the
at exhibitions;
Sirens and mermaids
for exam
appeared widely
c.
The Siren of
Rae's
1900 (Plate 20) and Henrietta
ple, Waterhouse's
is of
(1859-1928) The Sirens of 1903 (Plate 21). Rae's representation
particular interest since she is one of the few female classical subject
painters. Her intention in The Sirens is not only to show empowered
women but also to paint the naked female
she
body, for which
suffered some opprobrium during her career, including never being
admitted to membership
in the Royal Academy
years of
despite
exhibiting there. Frederic Leighton
(1830-96) painted The Fisherman
and the Syren during 1856-58 (Plate 22),
early in his career, showing a
mermaid-like
creature grasping the neck of an unwary
a
angler in
cruciform posture. Dante Gabriel Rossetti
a pen and ink
completed
Boatmen and Siren c. 1853,
aman
a female in a
showing
reaching for
boat and restrained only by a companion
from certain destruction.
Hacker's SeaMaiden of 1897,
Draper's Sea-Maiden of 1894, and Water
house's A Mermaid o? 1901, the last
as his
deposited
Diploma Picture,
reflect this interest in female atavistic behavior, Edward
Burne-Jones
(1833-98)painted not only theunfinished The Sirensof 1870 but also
The Depths of the Sea of 1886, the latter

showing
amermaid
570

dragging
a naked
sailor
into
the depths,
while
Edward
Matthew
Hale
(1852-1924) inMermaid'sRock of 1894 depicted a ship imperiled by
creatures (Plate 23).

threatening marine
The Odyssey provided
other artists with subjects that reinforced
in
the
motifs
and Siren canvases.
Circe
suggested
Draper's Calypso's
Isle of 1897 (cover) shows the nymph on the island of
Ogygia,
a mirror and
holding
displaying her body Perhaps she is watching
sail away, as he does in Book 5. Book 5with its account of
Odysseus
sailing on his raft might be the source for H.M. Paget's
Odysseus
(1856-1936) Odysseus of 1882, which shows the hero on a raft against
a mountainous
In 1885 Harrington Mann (1864-1937)
background.
exhibited Ulysses Unbinding the Sea Nymph's Veil from Odyssey 5 (Plate
the mariner naked on the shore of Scheria, the land of
24), showing
the Phaeacians,
just prior to his discovery by Nausicaa,
daughter of
Alcinous,
King of the Phaeacians. Nausicaa herself was the subject
of several canvases
during the nineteenth
among them
century
1878
Nausicaa, showing her forlorn after the departure of
Leighton's
Nausicaa and Her Maidens Playing at Ball (Plate 25) was
Odysseus,
in 1879 by Edward J. Poynter
exhibited
(1836-1919), showing the
just before her discovery of the exhausted mariner. Origi
princess
as part of a mural
conceived
for the Earl of
nally
designed
canvas
the
to
illustrates
Nausicaa
about
throw a ball to a
Wharncliffe,
as
the
servants
do
in
the
the
laundry
companion,
foreground. Joyce
was to
in "Nausicaa."
prominence
give the ball game considerable
a famous representation
of
Waterhouse
Penelope and the
completed
as the suitors
Suitors (Plate 26) in 1912, showing Penelope weaving
in
the
her.
the House
of
the
Angel
ideology
importune
Despite
one
canvas
Victorian
other
the
period, only
depicting Pen
during
the
suitors
with
that
exists,
Stanhope
by John Spencer
elope
(1829-1908)of 1864.William Blake Richmond (1842-1921)completed
The Death of Ulysses (Plate 27) in 1888, showing the hero lying supine
constructs the
takes his hand, Richmond
as the faithful Penelope
of
heroism
as
a
The
classical
symbols
Odysseus'
pieta.
painting
beside him.
and shield-rest
helmet, breastplate,
The iconographie
record of Calypso, Circe, the Sirens, Penelope,
motifs was reinforced during the period by
and other Odyssean
some of which have a
other
representations,
mythological
myriad
theme
more generalized
bearing on Ulysses. The Daedalus/Icarus
a
several times during the century, including
depiction of
appeared
on
His
in 1887, Icarus Starting
Icarus by Richmond
Flight, showing
the youth perched on a precipice. Leighton's Daedalus and Icarus of
to his son's body
1869 (Plate 28) shows the inventor affixing wings
of the
conclusion
the
while
catastrophic
prior to his departure,
571

in Draper's The Lament for Icarus of 1898 (Plate

venture is represented
the broken body of the
the
which
in
contemplate
nymphs
29),
to
take no interest in the
artists
Victorian
doomed flyer.
appeared
instead
father/son
this
affiliation,
displacing
Telemachus/Odysseus
If
Dedalus
in
to
the
Daedalus/Icarus
motif
Stephen
relationship.
in
Icarus
the
search
of
is
he
is
Telemachus,
imperiled
equally
Ulysses
and adventure.
his own inventiveness
in both A Portrait and
under the aegis of Apollo
Stephen is also
this non-Odyssean
Daedalus/Icarus
like
the
legend,
Ulysses, and,
the
cen
nineteenth
considerable
has
during
representation
myth
a Daphne in 1895 and Water
Hacker
Arthur
(1858-1919) painted
tury
an
Rae completed
house an Apollo and Daphne in 1908; Henrietta
with
unusual Apollo and Daphne in 1895, showing Apollo
pleading
as in Waterhouse's
rather than Daphne
being pursued,
Daphne
in the concept of Stephen
Perhaps most powerful
configuration.
is Leighton's
The
in A Portrait and Ulysses
as Stephaneforos
a
in
of
honor
of1876
(Plate 30), depicting
procession
Daphnephoria
a young crowned man ("crown-bearing")
the
with
leading
Apollo,
or laurel-bearer is the artist as priest of
procession. The daphnephoros
to be in his artistic quest.
as Stephen wishes
Apollo, much
for The Dial in 1923, T.S.
In "Ulysses, Order, and Myth" written
Eliot observed:
It is here that Mr. Joyce's parallel use of the Odyssey has
of a scientific
discovery....
importance
a continuous
in manipulating
between
parallel
It has
importance.
the myth,
the
raneity and antiquity, Mr. Joyce is pursuing

must
pursue
after
him,...
Instead
of narrative
a method
method,
use the mythical method. It is, I seriously believe,

making the modern world possible for art.6
a great
In
using
contempo
which
we
may
others
now
a step toward
No one would disagree with Eliot's recognition

that Ulysses marks a
crucial moment
in the evolution of narrative. However,
Eliot's idea
a cultural
that Ulysses manipulates
the
between
ancient
parallel
world and contemporary
was
history
certainly anticipated
by the
classical subject artists and their own
the
of
manipulation
Odyssean
narrative to adumbrate
imperial and patriarchal
ideologies.
They
would concur with Eliot's idea that this method
is "away of control
to the immense
ling, of ordering, of giving a shape and a significance
is contemporary
panorama of futility and anarchy which
history"7
In this respect, their endeavors antedate
Joyce's strategy in Ulysses,
earlier in another medium
this very practice.
demonstrating
was
more
in its
Joyce's mythical method, however,
comprehensive
transformation
of the Odyssean
into
the
narrative,
incorporating
572

of Ulysses many
not depicted
elements
textuality
by nineteenth
classical
artists.
This
case in rela
is
the
century
subject
particularly
tion to Stephen
since the "Telemachus,"
Dedalus,
"Nestor," and
"Proteus" sections of Ulysses appear not to have attracted Victorian
because
the authority of the
artists, perhaps
nineteenth-century
was more
It is in the
significant than filial connection.
paterfamilias
of the text, especially
remainder
in the
of
Circe, Ca
reconfiguring
and
the
that
is
to
closest
these
Sirens,
artists, revealing
lypso,
Joyce
his association with a cultural milieu
that emphasized
female ven
case
In
of
the
the
forlorn
Phaeacian
Nausicaa,
ality.
princess,
Joyce
has evoked the Homeric
prototype both to reinforce it and to sabo
yet sensitive incorporation of the paradigm
tage it in the sentimental
With "Penelope" the Homeric model becomes
in Gerty MacDowell.
from fidelity to the dazzling combination
transformed
of infidelity
and
wisdom
in
Bloom.
empowerment,
configured
Molly
Joyce cre
ated Ulysses in a cultural milieu already prepared for the
reception of
his work by nineteenth-century
classical subject artists, with their
own focus and emphasis
on the Homeric
narrative.
Joyce, refor
the
heroic
Homeric
of
into
his heroic
mulating
Odysseus
paradigm
advanced
the
for the
method"
Bloom,
"mythical
Ulysses/Leopold
of
twentieth
The
method"
nineteenth
these
century.
"mythical
century artists, however-the
incorporation of myth into contempo
is the crucial ele
rary history
through classicizing
iconographyment
in cultural poetics that established
this practice and prepared
for both the creation of and the reception of Ulysses*
The legend for each plate includes artist, title, date, medium (if other
than oil on canvas or panel or board), dimensions in inches, height before
width
(if known), and provenance (if known); where the provenance is
unknown or private, the source of the plate is identified; the abbreviation
RAP refers to the Cassell series Royal Academy Pictures.
The author would like to thank Sandra A. Martin, Senior Keeper of Fine
Art at the Manchester City Art Gallery, for her permission to reproduce
Herbert James Draper's Calypso's Isle on the cover.
NOTES
1 Stuart
Gilbert, James Joyce's "Ulysses" (New York: Vintage, 1953);

Michael Groden, "Ulysses" in Progress (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press,
1977); Michael Seidel, Epic Geography: James Joyces "Ulysses" (Princeton:
Princeton Univ. Press, 1976).
2
Univ. of California Press,
Hugh Kenner, The Pound Era (Berkeley:
1971), pp. 41-50.
573

3Recent
classical subject
scholarship devoted to nineteenth-century
artists includes: William Gaunt, Victorian Olympus (New York: Oxford Univ.
Press, 1952); Christopher Wood, Olympian Dreamers (London: Constable,
1983); and Joseph A. Kestner, Mythology andMisogyny (Madison: Univ. of
include Leon?e and Richard Ormond,
Wisconsin Press, 1989). Monographs
Lord Leighton (New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1975); and Anthony Hobson,
TheArt and Life ofj.W Waterhouse (New York: Rizzoli, 1980) and John William
Waterhouse (Oxford: Phaidon/Christies',
1989). Important exhibition cata
logues include: Victorian Olympians, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 1975;
Victorian High Renaissance, Manchester
1978; Victorian
City Art Gallery
Parnassus, Cartwright Hall, Bradford, 1987; and Victorian Dreamers, The
Tokyo4 Shimbun, 1989.
Royal Academy Pictures (London: Cassell, 1888-1916); Academy Notes
(London: Chatto and Windus,
1875-94); Grosvenor Notes (London: Chatto
and Windus,
1880-89); Pall Mall Pictures (London: Pall Mall Gazette,
1885-92); Royal Academy Illustrated (London: Sampson Low and Marston,
1884-85).
5
John Ruskin, "Notes on the Turner Gallery atMarlborough House"
(1857), in The Works of John Ruskin, ed. E.T. Cook and A. Wedderburn
(London: Allen, 1903-12), XIII, 136-37.
6T.S.
Eliot, "Ulysses, Order, and Myth/' The Dial, 1 (1923), 482-83.
7
Eliot, p. 483.
574

Plate1. JohnLinnell:TheReturn
of Ulysses,1848;
FORBESMagazine
Collection,NewYork
49x73;
&
%*$'
$?te?
^m

Nelson.
Otto
Plate 2. William
Edward Frost: The Sirens, 1849; 26x34;
photo:
Sotheby's
Belgravia.
#m.
Plate 3.William
Art Gallery.
Etty :The Sirens and Ulysses, 1837; 117 x 174;Manchester

City
Plate 4. Edward Armitage:

Gallery,
The Return of Ulysses,
1853; 44V2X56; City Art
Leeds.
&
Plate 5. Edward Armitage:
A Siren, 1888; 44V2x63; City Art Gallery, Leeds.

im
-'-$5.
Plate 6. Herbert James

Draper: The Youth of Ulysses,
1895; 78x34; photo: RAP 1895.

Plate 7. Hugh G. Riviere: The Lotos Land, 1898; 63x108;
Plate 8. John William Waterhouse:

58V2X36V4; Oldham Art Gallery.
photo: RAP 1898.
Circe Offering the Cup to Ulysses,

1891;
<$$??&:
WHHS?m
Pf
':W
ai?i
%m?&v%
**k?&\
Plate 9. John William Waterhouse:

Circe Invidiosa, 1892; 70V2X33V2; Art
Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide.

Plate 10. Thomas R. Spence: The

Temptation of Odysseus
by Circe, 1897; 76x44; photo: RAP 1897.
?~r^^^
Plate 11. Briton Riviere: Circe and the Friends

of Ulysses,
"Briton Riviere/' Art Annual, 1891.
Armstrong,
1871; photo: Walter

- *
A.
Plate 12. Arthur Hacker: G'rce, 1893; 46x71;
Plate 13. G.A.
photo: RAP 1893.
Storey: Circe, 1909; 18x26; photo: RAP 1909.

Plate 14. Arthur Wardle: Circe, 1908; 40x60;
Plate 15. Alfred Drury: Circe, 1894; 10 ft.; marble;
photo: RAP 1908.
photo: RAP 1894.

Plate 16. George Wetherbee:
Plate 17. Wright
Circe, 1911; 38x44; photo: RAP 1911.
Barker: Circe, 1912; 54x78;
Bradford Art Galleries
Museums.

and
Plate
William
John
Waterhouse:
18.
Ulysses
Sirens,
the
1891;
National
79x39;
and
Gallery
Victoria,
purchased
of
Melbourne;
liME^^^^S^^Î^^^^K^l?^^^te^
.^^^^
^^
^rjîWS^
?^2lK"
^^^vv;'-';???r
Ht
1891.

Herbert
Plate
James
Ulysses
Draper:
Sirens,
19.
64x84;
1909;
the
and
Art
Ferens
Gallery,
Hull.
\<jfl
li&ipHjjjjjj

Plate 20. JohnWilliam Waterhouse: The Siren, c. 1900;

32x21;
1974.
photo: Pr?raffaeliten, Baden-Baden: Staatliche Kunsthalle,
-^f?*,.
Plate 21. Henrietta
Rae: The Sirens, 1903; 46x101;
photo: RAP1903.

Vj?*-*?fcK
. , ?,..
-niK^^î.:;
1?&W
m? -v%.
"
"II".""
^
"~**- I^k
'*
v
^^^
jp^^g?^^^^Hi?*fc
l^M
?.^?^^
k?-Jute!
^
^^^r
?ET
^n?rs^
B^^^^^^K^*?iKi?."
j^Kf
Plate 22. Frederic Leighton:

Bristol Art Gallery.
JEM
im
JM^^^^^^H^^HE^^^H!^'
J^^^^W
TTzeFisherman and the Syren, 1858; 26V2XI8V2;

Plate 23. Edward Matthew

Gallery,
Hale: Mermaid's Rock, 1894; 48x78;
City Art
Leeds.
ifmmmMW?\ ?sty
Plate 24. Harrington Mann: Ulysses Unbinding
42 x 60; photo: Academy Notes 1885.
the Sea Nymph's Veil, 1885;

25.
Edward
J.
Poynter:
Nausicaa
and
Her
at
Playing
Maidens

Ball,
1879;
58
Plate 26. JohnWilliam Waterhouse:

Aberdeen Art Gallery.
Penelope and the Suitors, 1912; 51 Vix75;
Plate 27. William Blake Richmond: The Death of Ulysses, 1888; dimensions
unknown; photo: Helen Lascelles, "William Blake Richmond," Art An
nual 1902.

Plate 28. Frederic Leighton: Daedalus and Icarus, 1869; 53V2X40V2; The Na
tional
Trust,
Buscot
Park.

Plate 29. Herbert

Gallery,
James Draper: The Lament for Icarus, 1898; 72x61V4; T?te
London.

204;
876; Museums
andGalleri^
o"Merseyside
(Lady
Lever
Art
Nat?Onal
-j??


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University of Tulsa

Before "Ulysses": Victorian Iconography of the Odysseus Myth

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and the production

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but it also intersected with

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narrative. Such replication

He had been himself shut up by one-eyed people,

a painter of good promise had fallen

their hair in the cloud-banks?got

out of the cave in a humble way

of the painting may well he a source of Joyce's

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tion,William Edward Frost (1810-77)exhibited The Sirens (Plate 2),

artistWilliam Etty (1787-1849)exhibited The Sirens andUlysses at the

The examples established by Turner, Etty, Armitage,

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entails the encounter with the Lotus Eaters

Hugh G. Riviere's (1869-1956)lost The LotosLandof 1898 (Plate7),

Ulysses (Plate 8), exhibited by JohnWilliam Waterhouse (1849-1917)

(1834-1919)with his Circe of 1909 (Plate 13) and Arthur Wardle

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such asAlfred Drury (1856-1944)with his statue of 1894 (Plate 15),

to the Circe legend. Drury obviously was familiar

were also attracted

The Circeof 1911by George Wetherbee (1851-1920) (Plate 16) shows

a ship below her, almost a

(1833-98)painted not only theunfinished The Sirensof 1870 but also

The Depths of the Sea of 1886, the latter

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(1852-1924) inMermaid'sRock of 1894 depicted a ship imperiled by

creatures (Plate 23).

(1829-1908)of 1864.William Blake Richmond (1842-1921)completed

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in Draper's The Lament for Icarus of 1898 (Plate

raneity and antiquity, Mr. Joyce is pursuing

use the mythical method. It is, I seriously believe,

No one would disagree with Eliot's recognition

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Gilbert, James Joyce's "Ulysses" (New York: Vintage, 1953);

This content downloaded from 116.202.36.7 on Sun, 8 Mar 2015 19:17:08 PM

This content downloaded from 116.202.36.7 on Sun, 8 Mar 2015 19:17:08 PM

This content downloaded from 116.202.36.7 on Sun, 8 Mar 2015 19:17:08 PM

Edward Frost: The Sirens, 1849; 26x34;

Etty :The Sirens and Ulysses, 1837; 117 x 174;Manchester

This content downloaded from 116.202.36.7 on Sun, 8 Mar 2015 19:17:08 PM

Plate 4. Edward Armitage:

The Return of Ulysses,

1853; 44V2X56; City Art

Plate 5. Edward Armitage:

A Siren, 1888; 44V2x63; City Art Gallery, Leeds.

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Plate 6. Herbert James

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Plate 7. Hugh G. Riviere: The Lotos Land, 1898; 63x108;

Plate 8. John William Waterhouse:

photo: RAP 1898.

Circe Offering the Cup to Ulysses,

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Plate 9. John William Waterhouse:

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Plate 10. Thomas R. Spence: The

Plate 11. Briton Riviere: Circe and the Friends