Odysseus and the Daughters of Lycomedes, Baldassare Peruzzi

Performing Arts in Art Information and Questions for Teaching

Odysseus and the Daughters of Lycomedes Baldassare Peruzzi Italian, about 1520 Pen and brown ink and black chalk, heightened with white bodycolor, squared in black chalk 6 15/16 x 9 1/2 in. 85.GG.39

Background Information Knowing that her son would die if he fought in the Trojan War, Achilles’ mother, Thetis, sent him to live with the daughters of King Lycomedes of Scyros disguised as a woman. Odysseus, king of Ithaca, who wanted Achilles to fight against Troy, went to Lycomedes’ palace dressed as a merchant. He offered the daughters jewelry and clothing but also included a sword, spear, and shield. When a trumpet sounded, Achilles automatically grabbed the weapons, thus revealing his disguise. Here, Odysseus stands at the left, inviting the daughters into the palace.

Baldassare Peruzzi produced this drawing in preparation for one of four oval frescoes in a Roman villa. The drawing’s high degree of finish, with no visible corrections made by the artist, indicates that it may have been used as a finished study for a larger work.

About the Artist Baldassare Peruzzi (Italian, born Siena 1481, died Rome 1536)

Baldassare Peruzzi was very successful as a draftsman and architect, although he also created paintings. He made much-admired studies of antique buildings during the Renaissance, a period of history that began in the fourteenth century and saw a renewed interest in the study of classical antiquity. Renaissance thinkers believed that the arts and humanities had declined during the Middle Ages and were fascinated by Greco-Roman literature, history, art, and philosophy. Many of Peruzzi’s painted house facades, all now destroyed, included antique themes and were meant to look like grand “ancient” sculptural facades.

Upon arriving in Rome from Siena in 1502, Peruzzi used perspective to give his two-dimensional mural paintings a three-dimensional appearance. He also painted theater perspectives later used in a treatise on architecture. In 1515, he designed a new facade for Bologna Cathedral and later worked on a church, chapel, and palazzo in the town. When Raphael died in 1520, Peruzzi succeeded him as architect of Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome, using drawing as a tool to understand and further develop the existing plans.

© 2011 J. Paul Getty Trust. This education resource is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Performing ArtsPerforming in Art Arts in Art Information and Information Questions and for Questions Teaching for Teaching

Odysseus Odysseusand the Daughters and the Daughters of Lycomedes, of Lycomedes, Baldassare Baldassare Peruzzi Peruzzi

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Odysseus andOdysseus the Daughters and the ofDaughters Lycomedes, of Lycomedes, Baldassare Baldassare Peruzzi Peruzzi

Questions forQuestions Teaching for Teaching

Take the time toT akelook the closely time atto thelook drawing closely andat the share drawing your andinitial share observations. your initial observations.

What do the columnsWhat do in the backgroundcolumns in the reveal background about where reveal the about scene where is happening? the scene (Theis happening? (The columns may indicatecolumns a palace.)may indicate a palace.)

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Based on the posesBased of on the the figures poses and of thewhat figures you know and whatof the you story know of Achilles of the story so far, of Achilleswhat do soyou far, what do you think happens next?think happens next?