The Sirens and Ulysses

The Sirens and Ulysses.
The Sirens and Ulysses is a very large oil painting by the English artist William Etty, first exhibited in 1837. It depicts the scene from Homer's Odyssey in which Ulysses (Odysseus) resists the bewitching song of the Sirens by having his ship's crew tie him up, while they are ordered to block their own ears to prevent themselves from hearing the song. Traditionally Sirens had been depicted as human–animal chimeras, but Etty portrayed them as naked young women on an island strewn with decaying corpses. The painting divided opinion, with some critics greatly admiring it while others derided it as tasteless and unpleasant. Following the 1857 Art Treasures Exhibition, it was removed from display for about 150 years. In 2010 the painting went on permanent display in the Manchester Art Gallery.