
Cleveland Museum of Art
Hermes Ordering Calypso to Release Odysseus
Gerard de LairesseLinkedCulture matchlcp-52b63bfbfcaa
- Date
- c. 1670
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Culture
- Netherlands
- Department
- European Painting and Sculpture
- Institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Object ID
- 156420
From the Cleveland Museum of Art record
The Greek goddess Calypso held the hero Odysseus captive for seven years, preventing his return home from the Trojan War. Despite Calypso’s charms and the luxurious surroundings, Odysseus longed for his home and family, so the Olympian gods finally allowed his freedom. Here, the god Hermes swoops down to free Odysseus from Calypso’s embrace. De Lairesse, popularly known as the “Dutch Poussin,” introduced to the Netherlands a classicizing style influenced by artists of the French Academy. Calypso, reclining on her bed, looks at us with the same charming smile she used on Odysseus.
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Provenance & credit
As published by the source institution. Coverage varies — not every institution's open-data feed includes ownership history.
- Credit line
- Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
- Provenance
- Until 1946: Thomas Wodehouse Legh, 2nd Baron Newton [1857-1942], Cheshire, upon his death, probably held in trust by the estate | 1946: (Sale, Sotheby’s London, July 17, 1946, lot 63, sold to Julius Singer)1 | 1946-: (Julius Singer, London, probably sold to a Rio de Janeiro private collector) | Until 1991: Private collection, Rio de Janeiro | 1991: (Christie’s, New York, sale, Oct. 9, 1991, lot 195, sold to Johnny van Haeften, Ltd.) | 1991-1992: (Johnny van Haeften, Ltd., London, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) | 1992-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
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