Telemachus, Believing that His Father, Ulysses, Is Dead, Searches for Him in the Underworld, from The Adventures of Telemachus, Book 18 1808

Bartolomeo Pinelli created this artwork, "Telemachus, Believing that His Father, Ulysses, Is Dead, Searches for Him in the Underworld, from The Adventures of Telemachus, Book 18" using pen and brown ink with gray wash over graphite at the Art Institute of Chicago. The monochrome wash gives the scene a somber, otherworldly atmosphere, enhancing the gravity of Telemachus’s quest. Telemachus, rendered with classical contrapposto, stands poised at the threshold of the underworld. The composition is split, dividing the realms of the living and the dead. Above, a cloud of tormented souls writhes, their forms blurred and indistinct. Below, the landscape is littered with symbols of mortality – reptiles, bones, and decaying matter. Pinelli employs line and shadow to create depth and texture. The careful rendering of the figures and the stark contrast between light and dark imbue the scene with a sense of drama, suggesting the destabilization of established ideas about life and death. The use of formal qualities guides us to contemplate the transient nature of existence.