Art Institute of Chicago

Homer's Iliad, Homer's Odyssey, Aeschylus's Tragedies and les Argonautes

Tommaso Piroli (Italian, 1750-1824), after John Flaxman (English, 1755-1826), Iliad, Odyssey and Tragedies

Date

1793/1810 (Iliad, 2nd ed, published 1793; Odyssey, published 1793; Tragedies, published 1795; Les argonautes, 1799; 3rd ed, published 1807/10)

Medium

Engravings in black on cream laid paper, bound with cardboard covers covered in paper, with leather spine and corners, and decorative end papers with block printing in blue

Culture

Italy

Department

Prints and Drawings

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

Flaxman pioneered a style of drawing, inspired by Greek vase painting, that rejected perspective and modeling in favor of pure line. With this, he meant to rediscover a lost simplicity and purity in art. In the 1790s, Flaxman produced a series of illustrations made into engravings for the works of Homer, Aeschylus, and Dante. These proved enormously influential, earning the sculptor lasting fame. Little of the texts was included in these editions, as Flaxman set out to tell the story through images.

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