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The Fight Between Ulysses and Irus

Jan Muller Netherlandish
After Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem Netherlandish
Publisher Claes Jansz. Visscher Dutch
1589
Not on view
Muller made six engravings after Cornelis; and, impressions of four are in the Met. In addition to the present work they include Cain Killing Abel (56.597.4), Arion on a Dolphin (56.597.5) and The Three Fates Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos (56.597.7). The Fight Between Ulysses and Irus illustrates an event from Book 18 of the epic poem of Homer, The Odyssey. Finally returning to Ithaca after years of wandering, Ulysses discovers that his wife Penelope is besieged by suitors who, believing he was dead, wish to marry her. Disguised as a beggar, Ulysses goes to see her and is challenged to a fight by Irus, a drunken tramp and companion of the suitors. Ulysses easily defeats Irus, and Muller shows him as he is decribed by Homer; a nude figure, standing victorious over the body of his opponent, his back to the viewer putting on full display: "his big rippling thighs – his boxer’s broad shoulders, his massive chest and burly arms."

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Fight Between Ulysses and Irus
  • Artist: Jan Muller (Netherlandish, Amsterdam 1571–1628 Amsterdam)
  • Artist: After Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem (Netherlandish, Haarlem 1562–1638 Haarlem)
  • Publisher: Claes Jansz. Visscher (Dutch, Amsterdam 1586–1652 Amsterdam)
  • Date: 1589
  • Medium: Engraving; second state of three
  • Dimensions: 42.8 x 33.2 cm
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1956
  • Object Number: 56.597.6
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

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The Dentist (reverse copy), Jan Muller Netherlandish
The Dentist (reverse copy)
Jan Muller
Lucas van Leyden
n.d.
Rest on the Flight into Egypt, Jan Muller Netherlandish, Engraving; second state of four
Rest on the Flight into Egypt
Jan Muller
Harmen Jansz. Muller
1593
Lot and His Daughters, Jan Muller Netherlandish, Engraving; New Holl.'s second state of four
Lot and His Daughters
Jan Muller
Harmen Jansz. Muller
ca. 1600
Hagar in the Desert Consoled by an Angel, Jan Muller Netherlandish, Engraving; first state of three
Hagar in the Desert Consoled by an Angel
Jan Muller
Harmen Jansz. Muller
1591
Hagar in the Desert Consoled by an Angel, Jan Muller Netherlandish, Engraving; third state of three
Hagar in the Desert Consoled by an Angel
Jan Muller
Harmen Jansz. Muller
ca. 1591

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