Homer's Women

Penelope and Odysseus

Nigel Bruce

• 1 min read
Penelope and Odysseus
Honoré Daumier: "Ulysses and Penelope” in The National Gallery - Alexandros Soutzos Museum, Athens

This is Honoré Daumier's satirical take on Penelope and Odysseus reunited in the matrimonial bed (1842), from the series Histoire ancienne. A more conventional, if unusual, view is below - a Mannerist style painting by Francesco Primaticcio around 1560.

Primaticcio-Penelope-Odysseus
Toledo Museum of Art

The story of Odysseus' return to Ithaca and Penelope keeps being made into films, but the reason for this escapes me. Relatively faithful renditions like The Return (2024), starring Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche, strike me as simply old fashioned, when innovations in the form and content would be more interesting these days.