(Haina 1722–1789 Kassel)
Calypso bids Odysseus farewell,
oil on panel, 27.5 x 23.5 cm, framed

We are grateful to Petra Tiegel-Hertfelder for confirming the attribution of the present painting. A written certificate is available.

Tiegel-Hertfelder writes: ‘Tischbein has distinctly captured the facial expressions and gestures of the crucial moment: the lovers are forced to say good-bye. With this picture, Tischbein proves that important scenes marking the turning point of a plot can also be shown convincingly in small format. The minute execution of the individual motifs is the result of the artist’s profound training in France and Italy, which was also recognised by his contemporaries. J. H. Tischbein repeatedly dealt with episodes from this line of mythology, as is attested to by two works referring to the Iliad, The Duel of Menelaus and Paris and Theseus Showing Achilles His New Weapons, both of which belong to the collections of the Hessian landgraves. However, the present theme cannot be found amongst the paintings and drawings or in the catalogues that have been left behind. We know that Tischbein regularly met with friends to hear from the old tales of Homer and Ovid – “[…] and scholarship by the artist’s side was a friend he could often ask for advice” (1797). The painting was in France for a long time. It could have arrived there as early as the eighteenth century, for during the Seven Years’ War, Kassel was repeatedly occupied by French troops in 1760/61. Probably Tischbein was commissioned with this work because his vivid description and colouring appealed to the taste of the French patron. In the late 1750 the painter was busy with the overdoors for Wilhelmstal Palace. They describe the adventures of Odysseus’ son Telemachus. The present painting refers to the first adventure in Homer’s Odyssey: the hero bidding farewell from the nymph Calypso.’

The present picture is enclosed by a magnificent frame reminiscent of the work of Johann Augusts Nahl (1710–1785). Tischbein and Nahl were friends, both of them professors at the Kassel Art Academy.