Painting of the French artist Jacques Louis David “The Journey of Telemachus”. The size of the picture is 87 x 103 cm, canvas, oil. This painting is also known under the names “Telemachus and Eucharis” and “Farewell of Telemachus and the Eucharides”. The Eucharid, in ancient Greek mythology, was one of the nymphs, Calypso’s companions.
In the French novel The Journey of Telemachus, based on the Homeric story of the Odyssey, the author Fenelon, describes how Telemachus, son of Odysseus, passionately fell in love with the charming nymph Evcharid. However, Telemachus was forced to interrupt their romantic relationship in order to continue the search for his missing father Odysseus. In the picture of David, the unfortunate lovers say goodbye to the grotto on the island of Calypso. A young man with a fixed and dreamy gaze, the fair-haired Telemachus removes his right hand from the Ekharid’s thigh, holding his spear vertically in the left, a symbol of struggle.
The blue tunic of Telemach falls, exposing his youthful muscular torso. The Eucharid, portrayed in profile, gently leaned her head on Telemach’s shoulder in a farewell embrace. In Fénelon’s novel The Journey of Telemachus, an improvisation on the themes of the epic of Homer, Telemachus, in search of his father Odysseus, was shipwrecked on the island of Calypso, and there he fell in love with the nymph Evcharid, but had to leave it to continue his search for his father. Thus, Jacques-Louis David opposes the need to fulfill the filial duty of love and feminine affection.
Telemachus is the son of Odysseus and Penelope; When my father left for the Trojan War, he was still a baby; grew up, received from the goddess Athena council to go to Nestor in Pylos and to Menelaia in Sparta for news of his father; In this journey Telemachus was accompanied by Athena herself in the image of Mentor. In Sparta Telemach, I learned from Menelaus about Proteus’s prediction about the return of Odysseus. Returning home, Telemachus met his father at the swineherd Evmei in the form of a beggar; Odysseus was revealed to him, and Telemachus helped him with the murder of Penelope’s suitors, and then accompanied him to the elder Laertes. According to post-Homeric legends, Telemachus subsequently married Polikast, daughter of Nestor, or Nausica, the daughter of Alkino. According to other legends, Telemachus married Circe, from whom he had a son, Latina.
The history of Telemachus served as the theme of Fénelon’s famous novel The Journey of Telemachus. Eurekleia is the daughter of Opa, the slave of Odysseus’ father Laertes, the educator of the Odysseus son of Telemachus. When Odysseus returned to his native island after a long journey and, in the image of a beggar, arrived at his palace, Evrikleia recognized him on the scar on his leg and was an active ally in the fight against the suitors of Penelope’s widow. Jacques Louis David painted the painting “The Journey of Telemachus” in Brussels, during his exile after the Restoration.
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