
by Herbert James Draper, 1909
Dating to 1909, dramatic scene in 1909, showing Ulysses bound to the mast while sirens clamber aboard his ship. The muscular sea-nymphs reach toward the struggling hero, their wet bodies glistening as waves crash around the vessel. Draper reimagined the sirens as dangerous beauties rather than the bird-women of ancient texts.
The painting exemplifies late Academic Art, combining classical subject matter with sensuous realism. Draper excelled at mythological scenes featuring water and the female form. Now at the Ferens Art Gallery in Hull, measuring 177 × 213.5 cm.
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