The Return of Ulysses. Scene from Homer´s Ulysses

Ulysses returns to Ithaca and reveals himself in this 1812 painting at the Statens Museum for Kunst, one of Eckersberg"s ambitious Homeric subjects from his Parisian years under David. The Return of Ulysses—the hero"s homecoming after twenty years of war and wandering—was among the most dramatic episodes in the Odyssey and a natural subject for a painter schooled in the Davidian tradition of heroic narrative. 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.

The homecoming scene is staged with the compositional clarity learned from David, the dramatic revelation organized to maximize emotional impact. The figures demonstrate Eckersberg"s developing command of anatomy and expression. The palette responds to the Mediterranean setting with warm tones. The handling shows the discipline of David"s studio combined with Eckersberg"s own analytical temperament.