Telemachus1.0042b

Angelica Kauffmann, 1741-1807,"Telemachus and the Nymphs of Calypso", oil on canvas, pendant painting for Monsignor Onorato Caetani to be hung alongside Kauffmann's "The Sorrow of Telemachus", 1782-1783, Metropolitan Museum, New York, nos. 25.110.187-88, bequest of Collis P. Huntington.

Homer's so-called "Telemacheia", the education of the son in his fathers' virtues, fills Odyssey 1-4 and 15-24. Ancient myths explained that after Odysseus' death Telemachus married Circe (or Nausicaa).

François Fénelon wrote Suite du quatrième livre de l'Odyssée d'Homère, ou les Avantures de Télémaque, fils d'Ulysse (The Hague, 1699), a didactic prose romance, and published it surreptitiously. The publication marked the start of the Telemachus myth's remarkable resurgence during the enlightenment. Fénelon's narrative introduces plenty of non-classical elements to the story of Telemachus' own journey, what he did within the Odyssey's narrative framework before returning in book 15 to purge the house of Penelope's suitors. Fénelon tells how on Calypso's island, the nymph herself falls in love with Telemachus, but he falls for Eucharis, one of Calypso's attendants. See Telemachus1.0007_Fénelon. Kauffmann, in the depiction at right, shows Telemachus associating with Circe's attendants who react to their handsome young visitor. Among them is Eucharis. Opposite, Mentor leads Circe away, leaving the young people to have their fun.