La toile de Penelope (Penelope’s web)

Beschrijving

From the ‘Tafereel of beschryving van den prachtigen tempel der zang-godinnen…’, also known as ‘Le Temple des Muses’ published in Amsterdam in 1733, containing histories drawn from Greek mythology, written by A.de la Barre de Beaumarchais with plates by Bernard Picart. The plates are all finely engraved and are composed with a central part dedicated to the illustration of the story and a larger one, framing the previous, inhabited with details inspired to the central plate. For the whole book see Booknr. 50936 [L, p. 131-133] Penelope waited twenty years for the return of her husband Odysseus, during which she devises various strategies to delay marrying one of the many suitors. She has devised tricks to delay her suitors, one of which was pretending to be weaving a burial shroud for Laertes, Odysseus’s father and claiming that she will choose a suitor when she has finished. Picart represents Penelope in the act of destroying the work she had been doing during the day. Signed on the lower left corner: ‘B. Picart dir.’ Lettered in four languages on the bottom: ‘LA TOILE DE PENELOPE / Penelope’s web / Das Lucht von Penelope / ’t Linnen van Penelope’. On the bottom of the engraved frame on the left: ‘B. Picart del.’