Hermes Rescues Odysseus from Circe

Artist Giovanni Paolo Panini and Workshop (Italian, 1691 – 1765)

Date1718

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsImage: 51 x 63 5/8 in. (129.5 x 161.6 cm)
Frame: 62 7/8 × 75 1/2 × 2 7/8 in. (159.7 × 191.8 × 7.3 cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineBequest of John Ringling, 1936

Object numberSN172

Panini was the premier architectural painter of his day, and his work was in extremely high demand. Though a pair of paintings (this, and another in The Ringling's collection) depicts scenes from Homer’s Odyssey, these are not primarily narrative works. Instead, they are vehicles for the artist to create newly-imagined settings, using elements of actual buildings and, as is the case here, well-known sculptures from classical antiquity. Such capricci, as they were known, were both inspired by, and likely influenced, actual architecture and garden design of the period.

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