Telemachus, Believing that His Father, Ulysses, Is Dead, Searches for Him in the Underworld, from The Adventures of Telemachus, Book 18

Prints and Drawings

1808

Bartolomeo Pinelli
Italian, 1781-1835

In the last scene illustrated by Pinelli (book 18, of a total of 24), Telemachus steps onto the shores of Hades, land of the dead, after being ferried across the River Styx by Charon (seen in the background). Under Minerva’s protection, Telemachus has accomplished the feat granted to no mortal of descending to the underworld by entering the sulfurous cavern near the southern Italian city of Acherontia. In Hades, spirits of the dead and creatures of the night surround him. In search of his father Ulysses’s spirit, Telemachus will discover that he is still alive.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Prints and Drawings

Artist: Bartolomeo Pinelli
Title: Telemachus, Believing that His Father, Ulysses, Is Dead, Searches for Him in the Underworld, from The Adventures of Telemachus, Book 18
Place: Italy (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1808
Medium: Pen and black ink, with brush and brown and gray wash, over traces of black chalk on ivory laid paper, laid down on board
Dimensions: Sight: 48 × 59 cm (18 15/16 × 23 1/4 in.); Overall: 55.6 × 66.7 cm (21 15/16 × 26 5/16 in.)
Credit Line: Wirt D. Walker Fund
Reference Number: 1963.559
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/17964/manifest.json

Harold Joachim, Italian Drawings of the 18th and 19th Centuries and Spanish Drawings of the 17th through 19th Centuries (Chicago, 1980), no. 2G3.

Norton, Mass., Wheaton College, “Italian Drawings,” March 1980-January 1981; also traveled to the Princeton Art Museum, Spring 1979.
Baltimore, Md., Walters Art Gallery, “Italian 19th Century Painting,” November 14, 1992-January 2, 1993; also traveled to the Worcester Art Museum, January 16-February 27, 1993; and Pittsburgh, Pa., the Frick Art Museum, March 13-April 25, 1993.
The Art Institute of Chicago, “Gods and (Super)heroes: Drawing in an Age of Revolution”, November 16, 2017 - April 1, 2018.

Sold by Walter Schatzki (died 1983), New York, to the Art Institute, 1963.

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

Suggested Terms

See all hours

Telemachus, Believing that His Father, Ulysses, Is Dead, Searches for Him in the Underworld, from The Adventures of Telemachus, Book 18

Currently Off View

Date:

Artist:

About this artwork

Status

Department

Artist

Title

Place

Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Medium

Dimensions

Credit Line

Reference Number

IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.

Extended information about this artwork

Publication History

Exhibition History

Provenance

Share

Explore Further

Sign up for our enewsletter to receive updates.

Gallery actions

Image actions

Share

IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.