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''The Sirens and Ulysses'' is a large oil painting on canvas by the English artist William Etty, first exhibited in 1837. It depicts the scene from Homer's ''Odyssey'' in which Ulysses (Odysseus) resists the bewitching song of the Sirens by having his ship's crew tie him up, while they block their own ears to prevent themselves from hearing the song. While traditionally the Sirens had been depicted as human-animal chimeras, Etty portrayed them as naked young women, on an island strewn with decaying corpses. The painting divided opinion at the time of its first exhibition, with some critics greatly admiring it while others derided it as tasteless and unpleasant. Possibly owing to its unusually large size, 442.5 cm by 297 cm (14 ft 6 in by 9 ft 9 in), the work initially failed to sell, and was bought later that year at a bargain price by the Manchester merchant Daniel Grant. Grant died shortly afterwards, and his brother donated ''The Sirens and Ulysses'' to the Royal Manchester Institution. ''The Sirens and Ulysses'' was painted using an experimental technique, which caused it to begin to deteriorate as soon as it was complete. It was shown in a major London exhibition of Etty's work in 1849 and at the 1857 Art Treasures Exhibition in Manchester, but was then considered in too poor a condition for continued public display and was placed in the gallery's archives. Restoration began on the work in 2003, and in 2010 the painting went on display in the Manchester Art Gallery, over 150 years after being consigned to storage. ==Background== York-born William Etty (1787–1849) had originally been an apprentice printer in Hull, but on completing his apprenticeship at the age of 18 moved to London to become an artist. Strongly influenced by the works of Titian and Rubens, he became famous for painting nude figures in biblical, literary and mythological settings.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=About the artist )〕 While many of his peers greatly admired him and elected him a full Royal Academician in 1828, others condemned the content of his work as indecent.〔 Throughout his early career Etty was highly regarded by wealthy lawyer Thomas Myers, who had been educated at Eton College and thus had a good knowledge of classical mythology. From 1832 onwards Myers regularly wrote to Etty to suggest potential subjects for paintings. Myers was convinced that there was a significant market for very large paintings, and encouraged Etty to make such works. In 1834, he suggested the theme of Ulysses ("Odysseus" in the original Greek) encountering the Sirens, a scene from the ''Odyssey'' in which a ship's crew sails past the island home of the Sirens. The Sirens were famous for the beauty of their singing, which would lure sailors to their deaths. Ulysses wanted to hear their song, so had his crew lash him to the ship's mast under strict orders not to untie him, after which they blocked their ears until they were safely out of range of the island.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The tale of Ulysses )〕 The topic of Ulysses encountering the Sirens was well suited to Etty's taste; as he wrote at the time, "My aim in all my great pictures has been to paint some great moral on the heart ... the importance of resisting SENSUAL DELIGHTS".〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Etty's masterpiece )〕 In his depiction of the scene, he probably worked from Alexander Pope's translation, "Their song is death, and makes destruction please. / Unblest the man whom music wins to stay / Nigh the curs'd shore, and listen to the lay ... In verdant meads they sport, and wide around / Lie human bones that whiten all the ground. / The ground polluted floats with human gore / And human carnage taints the dreadful shore."〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Sirens and Ulysses」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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