Telemachus Plays and Sings to the Shepherds in Egypt, from The Adventures of Telemachus, Book 2

Art Historical Context

Bartolomeo Pinelli’s 1808 drawing captures a pivotal moment from François Fénelon’s popular didactic novel *The Adventures of Telemachus* (1699). In this scene, the young Telemachus—son of Odysseus—entertains Egyptian shepherds with song and lyre, embodying the story’s themes of virtue, leadership, and cross-cultural encounter. Pinelli, an Italian artist renowned for his lively literary and classical illustrations, brings the episode to life with a sweeping composition that invites viewers into an imagined ancient world. Executed in pen and black ink with delicate layers of brown and gray wash over faint chalk underdrawing, the work demonstrates Pinelli’s mastery of tonal contrast and narrative clarity. The washes create atmospheric depth, suggesting both the warmth of an Egyptian landscape and the emotional resonance of Telemachus’s performance. Such drawings often served as designs for prints that circulated widely, helping to spread Enlightenment-era moral tales across Europe. Housed in the Art Institute of Chicago’s Prints and Drawings collection, this sheet reflects the early-nineteenth-century fascination with classical literature and the educational power of art. Its generous scale and refined technique make it an engaging window onto both ancient myth and the period’s cultural ideals.

About the Artist

Bartolomeo Pinelli · 1781–1835

Bartolomeo Pinelli (1781–1835) was an Italian artist and printmaker who became one of the most popular and prolific chroniclers of Roman popular life in the early nineteenth century. Born in Rome, he trained at the Accademia di San Luca and demonstrated precocious talent in drawing and sculpture, though it was as an engraver and illustrator that he found his true vocation and his widest audience. ...