by-nc

Ulysses’s companions devour the cattle of the sun-god Helios

Maker

(artist)
1606-1669

After
(artist)
1504-1570

Title

Ulysses’s companions devour the cattle of the sun-god Helios

Medium

Pen and brown ink with brown wash over graphite on laid paper, laid down on a historic secondary support, also laid paper, likely a former album page

Dimensions

Height: 20.5 cm
Width: 31.4 cm

Accession Number

D.1948.XX.21.23.2

Mode of Acquisition

Unknown, gift, 1948

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords




Provenance

James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford and 9th Earl of Balcarres (1847-1913) [his bookplate on inside cover]; by descent to David Alexander Robert Lindsay, 28th Earl of Crawford and 11th Earl of Balcarres (1900-1975); by whom presented to The Courtauld, 13 August 1948

Literature

Béguin, Sylvie, Jean Guillaume and Alan Roy, La galerie d’Ulysse à Fontainebleau, Paris, 1985
p. 258, under no. 27

Inscriptions

Watermark: centre: Strasburg lily. Historic support, verso, left centre: crowned shield with straight edges containing fleur-de-lis.

Inscription: Recto: lower centre of composition, brown ink, ‘AvD’ in monogram: TvT / 27 / AvD; lower margin, brown ink: Tandis qu’Ulÿsse dormoit, ses compagnons pressez par la fin túent les bœufs du Soleil, et pour punition / de cette offence, ils sont toús naufragés, luÿ seul reservé. cela verifie assez, qu’il n’y a point de consideration / assez forte contre la necessité; ce qui n’empesche pas toutes fois [que ceux à] qui elle faict violer les choses sacrées n’en reçoivent / le chastiment. [While Ulysses sleeps, his companions, driven by hunger, slaughter the cattle of the Sun-god, and as punishment for this offence they are shipwrecked, he alone saved. That proves well enough that there is no consideration strong enough against necessity; which all the same does not prevent those who violate sacred things from receiving punishment.]

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