Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Idealized Portrait of the Poet Homer
(Baroque Europe )
The old man honored by a laurel wreath is Homer, the greatest poet of antiquity, identified by the inscription on the sheet of paper with the names of the cities that claimed Homer as a native. This imaginary portrait (no one knows what he looked like) is not so much a celebration of the author of the early Greek epic poems- The Iliad and The Odyssey- but of the fame that a poet could achieve.
This splendid painting is dated but not signed. The forceful modeling suggests a Flemish painter influenced by Caravaggio (Italian, 1571-1610).
Inscription
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.
Don Marcello Massarenti Collection, Rome; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1902, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Conservation
| Date | Description | Narrative |
|---|---|---|
| 4/20/1955 | Treatment | surface cleaned |
| 1/1/1972 | Examination | examined for condition |
| 3/30/1972 | Treatment | cleaned; examined for condition; inpainted; other |
| 12/20/1991 | Examination | examined for condition |
Measurements
H: 28 3/8 x W: 22 3/8 in. (72.1 x 56.8 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired by Henry Walters with the Massarenti Collection, 1902
Location in Museum
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
37.646