Chatiment des Servantes - Pl. XI from the "L'Odyssee" portfolio

Andre Masson

Upon his return to Ithaca after a twenty-year absence, Odysseus made his way into his palace dressed as a swineherd. Within the palace he witnessed the suitors of Penelope eating and drinking that which was not theirs and abusing both physically and verbally the beggars, including himself. When Odysseus disclosed himself and challenged their right to what was before them, one suitor admitted that they had done much wrong on his land and in his house. With the aid of his son, Telemachus, and the swineherd, Odysseus slew the suitors. He then beckoned the nurse Euryclea and beseeched her to disclose the names of the maids that had lain with the suitors. Those twelve maids were commanded to clean up the death scene by removing the bodies and cleaning up the gore and blood. Odysseus told Telemachus and the swineherd to force the maids into a small space and kill them with their spears.

In this image, Masson presents the maids packed tightly together against what appears to be a wall. Fluid sinuous lines create the maids and suggest their movement and panic as their sins have been exposed and they face their punishment. The arrows reference spears from which the maids run from, turn from, or drop from.