Ulysse et Penelope

What you are looking at

This engraving depicts a scene from the classical story of Ulysses and Penelope, divided into two registers. In the upper half, framed within billowing clouds, three figures appear in a celestial or divine realm: a standing man in classical drapery gestures toward a seated woman in the center, while a third figure (likely a deity or allegorical personage) stands to the right in partial undress. Below, in a terrestrial setting with architectural elements visible in the distance, two figures in classical Roman military dress and flowing garments face each other across a body of water or shore. The left figure, a man in armor and cape, reaches toward the right figure, a woman in long drapery. The composition creates a visual dialogue between divine intervention above and earthly reunion below, the classical subject matter rendered in the linear, high-contrast language of Renaissance or early Baroque engraving.

The dancing

The figures throughout are posed in attitudes of classical restraint and formal gesture rather than active dance movement. The celestial figures display the raised arms, inclined heads, and contemplative stance of mythological tableau. The terrestrial pair communicate through extended arms and body inclination—the man leans forward in supplication or greeting, the woman's posture suggests reciprocal attention, but neither is in motion. The poses are those of formal encounter and recognition rather than choreographed steps, with the drapery and musculature rendered to suggest classical sculpture.

The dance depicted

This engraving does not depict dance in the sense of choreographed movement. Rather, it illustrates a moment from classical narrative—the recognition or reunion of Ulysses and Penelope, possibly after his long return from Troy. The title and composition invoke classical drama and allegory, genres in which formal gesture, stance, and symbolic positioning served the functions that dance might serve in a different context. The figures occupy attitudes of pathos and recognition familiar from classical theater and baroque court spectacle, but the work documents narrative encounter rather than social or theatrical dance practice.

How it was made

This is an engraving, a print made by incising lines into a metal plate (likely copper), the technique evident from the fine linear hatching used throughout to model form and create tonal gradation. The initials visible at lower left ("B. pinx" and "F.E.") suggest the work was drawn by one hand (pinx. = pinxit, painted/drawn) and engraved by another. The technique allowed wide circulation of the image and suggests it was made for a educated audience familiar with classical literature and allegory. The high finish and fine detail indicate a professional workshop practice, likely 16th or 17th century.

About this work

This engraving illustrates a moment from the classical story of Ulysses and Penelope, presenting it as a vision divided between divine and earthly realms. The work belongs to the tradition of classical history engraving—a genre that dominated European printmaking from the Renaissance onward—in which narrative moments from ancient texts and mythology were translated into formal visual language. The composition privileges allegorical and narrative content over the representation of actual movement, yet the work offers important evidence of how classical subjects were visualized and circulated in early modern Europe, and of the formal conventions governing the representation of heroic and divine encounter.

How to look at it

This engraving asks you to read it as a two-level narrative: attend first to the architectural and compositional division between the cloud-framed upper realm and the earthly lower setting, which signals a movement between divine will and human action. Notice how the gestures of the figures—the extended arms, the inclined bodies—are posed rather than dynamic, using the formal vocabulary of classical sculpture and relief to convey emotion and narrative significance. The fineness of the engraved line and the precise hatching demonstrate the high technical skill required to execute such works; this level of finish was both a mark of prestige and an aid to circulation—the image could be reproduced and distributed across Europe.

The artist

The initials suggest this is a print after a drawing by an artist whose name began with B, engraved by someone with initials F.E. or signing as F.E. Without more specific information, the artist cannot be securely identified. The style and execution are consistent with professional Renaissance or early Baroque printmaking workshops active in northern Europe or Italy in the 16th–17th centuries, periods when classical narrative engraving was a dominant and highly valued form of artistic production and knowledge circulation.

The period

This engraving was made during a period when classical texts and images were central to elite European visual and performative culture. The 16th and 17th centuries saw intense interest in recovering and reinterpreting classical subjects, driven by the Renaissance recovery of ancient texts and the authority those texts carried in humanist education. In the same period, court ballet was emerging in Italy and France, initially as a vehicle for classical narrative allegory. Engraved prints like this one were primary tools for disseminating classical imagery and narrative across Europe, shaping how educated audiences understood and imagined classical subjects in all media, including dance.

Where it lives

This engraving is part of the Prints depicting dance collection held by the New York Public Library, indicating it was catalogued as a dance-related work, likely because of its subject matter (classical narrative involving figures) or its significance to the visual history of theatrical representation. The attribution and dating remain uncertain based on the available record.

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