The Understanding of Odysseus & Circe

The oil painting “Odysseus and Circe” by Salomon de Bray (approx. 1650) is supposed to indicate that an epic journey is underway. Even though this painting does not show an epic journey underway, it does show Circe’s island from Homer’s “The Odyssey.” De Bray based his painting directly on Homer's Odyssey. Circe is a sorceress whom Odysseus encountered on his wanderings. The Greek hero and his companions came to Circe's island on their journey home after the Trojan War. Although I know the journey, I would not know this painting represents it. Yes, I believe if I had not read “The Odyssey” I would have never known that this painting is set on an island. I would not have known that the Greek hero Odysseus and his companions were in the Trojan War.

I would not have known that the Greek hero Odysseus and his companions were in the Trojan War because in the painting the guy (Odysseus) on the right looks like he’s just a guard who hasn’t been traveling after a hard fought war. It was Circe’s way with travelers to feast them on viands containing a magic potion which turned them into pigs. That is the scene Salomon de Bray depicted in the oil painting. The life of a pig was the fate of some of Odysseus' companions; Odysseus himself, forewarned by Mercury, touches neither food nor drink.

I believe if I had not read “The Odyssey” I would have never known that this painting is set on an island. In the painting there’s nothing leading me to believe that the characters are on an island. The background looks like ancient Greece. This painting shows a woman in the background pouring what I will assume to be wine. If this painting showed an epic journey underway I don’t think the people involved would be sitting around a table pouring and drinking wine. In the right lower corner it looks to be a pig that we can assume was once a companion of Odysseus.

It seems as though the actual epic journey took place before the scene that is portrayed in the painting. This painting...