Ulysses and the Sirens
1891

• John William WATERHOUSE

This dramatic painting illustrates an episode from the journeys of the Greek hero Odysseus (Ulysses in Latin) as told in the poet Homer’s Odyssey, in which the infamous sirens lured sailors towards perilous rocks and their doom by singing in an enchanting manner. Ulysses wished to hear the sirens’ song and ordered his crew to lash him to a mast and block their ears in order to ensure their safe passage. John William Waterhouse has depicted each siren with the body of a bird and the head of a beautiful woman. He borrowed the motif from an ancient Greek vase in the British Museum, London.

Exhibited Royal Academy, London, 1891, no. 475; Victorian Olympians, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 20 June –20 July 1975, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 12 August –14 September 1975, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 26 September –26 October 1975, no. 39; Queens & sirens: Archaeology in 19th century art and design, Geelong Art Gallery, Geelong, 26 September – 1 November 1998, no. 9; European Masterpieces: Six Centuries of Paintings from the National Gallery of Victoria, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne touring to Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati 27 October 2000–14 January 2001, Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, 18 March – 26 May 2001, Denver Art Museum, Denver, 23 June – 9 September 2001, Portland Art Museum  October 2001–6 January 2002, no. 77; J.W. Waterhouse: The Modern Pre-Raphaelite, Groninger Museum, Groningen; Royal Academy of the Arts, London; Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, December 2008 – February 2010, no. 22.