- Museum number
- 1860,0616.81
- Description
-
Odysseus chiding Thersites; both on a platform with a fire burning at r, soldiers looking on, tents or other architecture in the background
Pen and brown ink, with grey wash, heightened with white, on buff paper; squared for transfer
- Production date
- 1552-1571
- Dimensions
-
Height: 415 millimetres
-
Width: 288 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- Thanks to the old inscription this was placed as Primaticcio until Philip Pouncey identified it as by Nicolò dell'Abate from his period in France (1552-71). The narrative is taken from Homer's 'Iliad' and recounts how Odysseus (the crowned figure at the centre) was contradicted and abused by Thersites, 'the ugliest man who had come to Troy', who disagreed with his call to the Achaens to remain loyal to King Agamemnon and remain in Troy. Odysseus got his own back by disrobing his opponent to reveal his unsightly body to the assembled company and then beating him. For the artist's borrowing from Primaticcio see Koshikawa.
Lit.: A.E. Popham, in exhib. cat., London, British Museum, 'Emilian Drawings of the XVI Century', 1951, no. 97; N. Turner and M. Royalton-Kisch, in exhib. cat., Leningrad, The Hermitage and Moscow, Pushkin Museum, 'The Italian Renaissance', 1977, no. 33; N. Turner and M. Royalton-Kisch, in exhib. cat., Adelaide, Art Gallery of South Australia and Melbourne, National Gallery of Victoria, 'Michelangelo and the century of genius: Master Drawings from the British Museum', 1980, no. 1;M. Koshikawa and H. Kurita, in exhib. cat., Tokyo and Nagoya, 'French Drawings from the British Museum: from Fontainebleau to Versailles', 2002, no. 3
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1951, BM, 'Emilian Drawings', no. 97
1977 May-Jun, Russia, Hermitage, 'Italian Renaissance', no. 33
1977 Jul-Aug, Moscow, Pushkin, 'Italian Renaissance', no. 33
1980, Adelaide and Melbourne, no. 1
1994, BM, 'The Study of Italian Drawings', no. 47
2002 April-June, Nagoya, Aichi Pref Mus of Art, French Drawings/BM, no. 3
2002 July-Sep, Tokyo, NM of Western Art, French Drawings/BM, no. 3
2016-17, Oct-Jan, Suzhou, 'Italian Renaissance Drawings', no. 49
2018, March-May, BM, G90a, 'Fontainebleau School'
2019 11 Apr-30 Jun, Macau Museum of Art, Macau, 'Italian Renaissance Drawings'
2021-2022 3 Sept – 20 Feb, Beijing, MWOODS, Italian Renaissance Drawings
- Acquisition date
- 1860
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1860,0616.81
