De Circe la encantadera o hechizera · Centre for Early Modern Visual Culture

Title: De Circe la encantadera o hechizera
Subject: Famous Women; Circe; Ulysses; Transformation; Magic; Important Women
Period: 1450-1500;
Geographic: Mount Circeo; Italy; Aetheum
Description: This engraving depicts Circe, the daughter of the Sun, on the right side of the engraving. We know that this is Circe as her name is engraved horizontally adjacent to her body. Boccaccio explains that Circe was skilled in the art of magic and would often turn people who landed on her shores into animals. When Ulysses and his men happened upon Circe, she transformed Ulysses’ companions into beasts. They are depicted in the engraving with their bodies still in human form, while their heads are changed into animals such as lions and pigs. Ulysses is the one man among them that is still in human form (his name is engraved above his head). Ulysses threatens Circe with his sword, and she eventually changes his companions back into their original forms.
Image Creator: Anonymous (Engraver)
Type: Text; Woodcut Engraving
Identifier: mta:16662
Language: spa
Source Name: De Las Mujeres Ilustres [On Famous Women]
Parent Collection: 1494 Mujeres Ilustres; 1494 Mujeres Ilustres
Image: mta_16662_OBJ.png
Collection: Early Modern Women
Subject: Famous Women; Circe; Ulysses; Transformation; Magic; Important Women