Lot number 2016 - Auction 150
ODYSSEUS WIRD VON DER BLINDEN AMME EURYKLEIA ERKANNT (ULYSSE RECONNU PAR EURYCLÉE (Originaltitel)), 1849

CHARLES-GUSTAVE HOUSEZ 17 December 1822 Condé-sur-l'Escaut - 6 July 1894 Laxou ODYSSEUS RECOGNISED BY THE BLIND NURSE EURYCLÉE (ULYSSE RECONNU PAR EURYCLÉE (ORIGINAL TITLE original), 1849 Oil on canvas (relined). 113.5 x 147 cm (R..145 X 180 cm) Signed lower left: "G. Housez". Partially min. restored. min. slightly rubbed. Frame. The painting depicts the moving moment from Homer's Odyssey when Odysseus returns to his homeland of Ithaca after a long and arduous journey - unrecognised, dressed in rags and disguised as a beggar. But it is Eurycleia, his old nurse, who recognises him - not through words, not through gestures, but through a sign from the past: a scar above his knee, which he had once sustained during a wild boar hunt. As she secretly washes his feet, her hand touches that familiar wound - and in a quiet yet powerful moment, memory breaks through the masquerade. Eurycleia is the first to recognise him, even before he reveals himself to his son Telemachus or his wife Penelope. But Odysseus urges her to keep quiet, for his ruse, his final grand plan, is yet to come: revenge on the insolent suitors who have taken over his house and are courting Penelope. This scene is more than a moment of recognition - it is an expression of deep loyalty, intimate closeness and the unshakeable bond between the hero and the woman who once cared for him as a child. The painting took part in the Prix de Rome in 1849 and is listed in the competition's records. The Prix de Rome is an award that was established in 1663 and officially awarded by the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in Paris from 1667 onwards. The prize was abolished following a reform in 1968. The award was presented in several stages: a first prize (Grand Prix) and a second prize. In some years, no prize was awarded, for example due to jury decisions, administrative difficulties or political circumstances. In other years, several first or second prizes could be awarded (ex aequo), for example a 'First Grand Prix' and a 'Second Grand Prix' or a 'First Second Prize' and a 'Second Second Prize'.Each year, the jury set a binding theme on which the ten finalists - the so-called logists - had to produce a painting. From the 19th century onwards, these works had standardised dimensions of approximately 115 × 145 cm. A special subcategory was introduced in 1816: the competition for historical landscape painting (a genre scene with an antique theme). This competition took place every four years and was abolished in 1863. The winners of the Grand Prix were generally given the opportunity to study at the Académie de France à Rome, which had been housed in the Villa Medici since 1803. Provenance: Rhenish Private Collection.