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

Telemachus Plays and Sings to the Shepherds in Egypt, from The Adventures of Telemachus, Book 2 — Bartolomeo Pinelli. 1808.

Medium: Pen and black ink, with brush and brown and gray wash, over traces of black chalk on ivory laid paper, laid down on board. Dimensions: Sight: 46 × 58.8 cm (18 1/8 × 23 3/16 in.); Overall: 55.8 × 66.7 cm (22 × 26 5/16 in.).

Collection record: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.

These twelve drawings depict scenes from the French novel The Adventures of Telemachus (Les aventures de Télémaque) by François Fénelon. First published in 1699, it was one of the most popular books of the 1700s and 1800s. Telemachus is the son of Ulysses from Homer’s Odyssey , the first four books of which describe the hero’s search for his father. Fénelon invented further adventures for Telemachus, in which he undergoes many trials while accompanied by his tutor, Mentor, who is actually the goddess Minerva (the embodiment of wisdom) in human disguise. A scathing critique of autocratic government and a diatribe against war, the book denounces luxury and decadence and calls for the simplicity and equality Fénelon believed ancient Greece best exemplified. Pinelli illustrated scenes from books 1–8 and one scene from book 18, and probably planned to illustrate more from the 24 books of the text. Throughout, he celebrates the heroic nude, displaying a deep knowledge of ancient Roman sculpture. His style, influenced by Jacques-Louis David and John Flaxman, is characterized by bold, almost cartoonish contours, monochromatic washes, and frieze-like arrangements of figures. With a magical flute given to him by Termosiris, and inspired by Apollo, Telemachus sings and plays so beautifully that the neighboring shepherds gather in crowds around him. At the same time, the desert grows more verdant and its inhabitants more civilized.

Description: © Art Institute of Chicago, original record, CC BY 4.0. HTML formatting removed; wording retained. Other artwork metadata: CC0.

Source: official collection record. Metadata selected and normalized by Artline from the source export, accessed 10 September 2026; no museum endorsement. Reproduction rights are separate.