Telemachus and the Nymphs of Calypso
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
This painting shows Telemachus, son of Odysseus, arriving on the island of the goddess Calypso together with his guide, and being met there by Calypso and her attendant nymphs [1]. The subject continues the wave of Homeric and pseudo-Homeric painting that swept European academies in the later eighteenth century, when episodes from the Odyssey and the story-cycles built around it supplied artists with scenes of arrival, hospitality and temptation that suited a soft, idealised classical style. Angelica Kauffmann, a Swiss-born painter trained by her father and later a founding member of London's Royal Academy, was among the artists most associated with this kind of subject, moving fluidly between Homeric, Trojan and biblical material across her career [2][3]. The painting is now held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, which acquired it as part of the bequest of the American railroad financier and collector Collis P. Huntington [1]. It shows Kauffmann's typical handling of a mythological encounter: a small group of figures, gently lit, arranged so that gesture and gaze carry the story rather than physical action.
Where it is held
Held at Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, United States.
Held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, received as part of the bequest of the collector Collis P. Huntington.
Who Telemachus was, and why he lands on Calypso's island
Telemachus is the son Odysseus left behind in Ithaca as an infant when he sailed for Troy. In the story that grew up around Homer's Odyssey, the young man sets out with a guide to search for news of his long-absent father and is carried, by storm or by design, to the island where the goddess Calypso lives. Calypso is best known in Homer's own poem as the nymph who kept Odysseus himself on her island for years, delaying his return home; a painting of Telemachus arriving there instead brings the son into contact with the same enchanted, isolated world that had already swallowed up his father, and eighteenth-century audiences reading the story alongside Homer would have caught that echo immediately.
Kauffmann and Homeric subject matter
Kauffmann returned to Homer's world more than once. Her paintings on the Trojan side of the epic cycle, including Hector Taking Leave of Andromache and Andromache and Hecuba Weeping over the Ashes of Hector, both shown at the Royal Academy in the years just after its founding, sit alongside Odyssey-derived subjects like this one as evidence of how central classical epic was to her practice once she moved from portraiture into history painting [3]. Her training in Rome in the early 1760s, shaped by contact with the antiquarian Johann Joachim Winckelmann and by close study of ancient sculpture, gave her a repertoire of poses and drapery she carried into scenes like this arrival on Calypso's shore [3].
From portraitist to history painter
Kauffmann's earliest success came from portraiture, the category open to women without controversy, and by twelve or thirteen she was already accomplished enough to attract commissions on her travels with her father across Italy [4]. Her turn toward history painting followed her move to Rome and then to London in 1766, where her English was strong enough, thanks to early contact with English patrons in Italy, to build a client base quickly [2]. Within two years of arriving in London she was one of two women elected as founding members of the Royal Academy, alongside the botanical painter Mary Moser, though both were barred from the life-drawing sessions considered essential training for ambitious figure painting [4].
Common questions
What does Telemachus and the Nymphs of Calypso show?
It shows Telemachus, the son of Odysseus, arriving with his guide on the island of the goddess Calypso, where he is met by Calypso and her nymphs.
Is this scene from Homer's Odyssey?
It draws on the world of the Odyssey. In Homer's own poem, Calypso detains Odysseus, not his son; the story of Telemachus later reaching her island belongs to the broader story-cycle that grew up around the Odyssey and was popular reading in the eighteenth century.
Who painted Telemachus and the Nymphs of Calypso?
Angelica Kauffmann (1741-1807), a Swiss-born history painter and founding member of the Royal Academy in London.
Where is the painting held now, and how did it get there?
It is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, which received it as part of the bequest of the collector Collis P. Huntington.
Sources
Editorial draws on the following references, verified against the museum and public-domain image record for this work.
- [1] book Jesse Bryant Wilder, Art History For Dummies Used for: this artwork.
- [2] book Allison Lee Palmer, Historical Dictionary of Neoclassical Art and Architecture Used for: this artwork.
- [3] book Jennifer D. Milam, Historical Dictionary of Rococo Art Used for: this artwork.
- [4] book Katy Hessel, The Story Of Art Without Men Used for: this artwork.
Editorial overseen by Solis Prints. Sources verified 2026-09-03. Click a source for details, or hover over [N] in the page above to preview.
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