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Telemachus Returning to Penelope
Artist:
Angelica Kauffman
(Swiss, 1741-1807)
Date: ca. 1770-1780
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
38 × 48 1/4 in. (96.5 × 122.6 cm)
Overall, Frame: 53 3/4 × 64 1/4 × 5 1/2 in. (136.5 × 163.2 × 14 cm)
Classification: European art
Credit Line: Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.
Object number: 71.665
Terms
- Mythology
In Collection(s)
Not on view
DescriptionPenelope greats her young son Telemachus who has just arrived from home from his search for his father, Odysseus. Other women and two dogs are also in the scene.
Exhibition History"Thomas Jefferson, Architect: Palladian Models, Democratic Principles, and the Conflict of Ideals," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, October 19, 2019 - January 19, 2020.
"Making Her Mark: A History of Women Artists in Europe, 1400-1800,” Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD, October 1, 2023 - January 7, 2024; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, February - May 2024.
"Making Her Mark: A History of Women Artists in Europe, 1400-1800,” Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD, October 1, 2023 - January 7, 2024; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, February - May 2024.
Label textAngelica Kauffman
Swiss, 1741−1807
Telemachus Returning to Penelope, ca. 1770−1780
Oil on canvas
Chrysler sought out superb large-scale figurative works for his public museum
collection and happily included works by women artists in several different areas. Angelica Kauffman was one of the most celebrated, accomplished, and successful artists of her day. Born in Switzerland, she moved to Rome and then London, and was devoted to subjects from Greek poetry and mythology in a neoclassical style of painting. She chose subjects, however, that reflected a woman’s point of view. Here she shows Penelope welcoming her young son Telemachus home from his long yet ultimately successful journey in search of his father, Odysseus.
Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.665
Swiss, 1741−1807
Telemachus Returning to Penelope, ca. 1770−1780
Oil on canvas
Chrysler sought out superb large-scale figurative works for his public museum
collection and happily included works by women artists in several different areas. Angelica Kauffman was one of the most celebrated, accomplished, and successful artists of her day. Born in Switzerland, she moved to Rome and then London, and was devoted to subjects from Greek poetry and mythology in a neoclassical style of painting. She chose subjects, however, that reflected a woman’s point of view. Here she shows Penelope welcoming her young son Telemachus home from his long yet ultimately successful journey in search of his father, Odysseus.
Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.665
Published References
Angela Rosenthal, _Angelica Kauffman: Art and Sensibility_ (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006), 19, 30 & 34.
David H. Solkin, _Art in Britain, 1660-1815_ (New Haven: Yale University Press with Pelican History of Art and Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, 2015) 166, 231.
Paris A. Spies-Gans, _A Revolution on Canvas: The Rise of Women Artists in Britain and France, 1760-1830_ (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2022) 126, fig. 52.
Provenance
From the collection of the Countess Fitzwilliam/Houghton Hall/ Sanction York. Purchased from the Hon. Charles Stourton from a friend in France at the time of the Revolution.