Ulysses Fleeing the Cave of Polyphemus

Ulysses flees the cave of the blinded Polyphemus in this 1812 painting at the Princeton Art Museum, another Homeric subject from Eckersberg"s years in Paris and Rome. The episode—Odysseus escaping the Cyclops by hiding under the belly of a ram—combined classical narrative with the dramatic opportunities of a cave setting and a monstrous opponent. Eckersberg's mythological paintings belong to his Parisian period under David, when the Neoclassical emphasis on heroic subjects from ancient history and literature dominated academic training. These works demonstrate his command of multi-figure composition and the rendering of ideal anatomy, skills he would later deploy in marine painting and portraiture.

The cave setting creates dramatic chiaroscuro effects, with Eckersberg rendering the contrast between the dark interior and the light outside. The muscular figure of Polyphemus and the cleverly concealed Odysseus demonstrate the artist"s command of figure painting. The palette emphasizes the darkness of the cave interior with passages of lighter tone where the escape route leads toward freedom.