Circe Offering the Cup to Ulysses

Circe holds out the golden cup that will turn Odysseus into a pig — as she has already done to his men, one of whom is visible at her feet. Look at the small round mirror behind her: it reflects Odysseus, still down by the shore, walking up to her palace. Two moments of the story in one image: the trap being set, and the victim not yet inside. Circe's stare is level with the viewer's — she is offering the cup to us as well as to him. Odysseus survives because Hermes gives him the antidote (moly). Waterhouse painted her at the moment before she loses. Now at Gallery Oldham, Oldham @galleryoldham