Kírkē through the eyes of sculptors, painters, and craftsmen across the ages
Circe Offering the Cup to Ulysses — Waterhouse's 1891 masterpiece: the enchantress of Aiaia enthroned, raising the drugged bowl while a transformed sailor grunts at her feet and Odysseus looms in her mirror.
Boston kylix of the Painter of the Boston Polyphemos — Attic black-figure wine cup, ca. 560–550 BCE (MFA 99.518): Circe's potion mid-work, Odysseus' men half beast and half man — the earliest surviving image of the witch at her craft. Photo: Lucas / ancientartpodcast, CC BY 2.0.
Circe Invidiosa — Waterhouse's 1892 Ovidian vision: jealous Circe poisons the well where her rival Scylla will bathe, the venom glowing green at her toes.
Arula of Kirke — a polychrome terracotta altar from Sicily, third quarter of the 6th century BCE (Louvre CA 5956): on its side panel Circe works the shapeshifting of Odysseus' companion, among the oldest named images of the goddess.
Ulysses and Circe — Bartholomeus Spranger's Mannerist panel, c. 1586–87 (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna): the hero, proofed by Hermes' moly, confronts a Circe whose spell is failing in mid-gesture.
Circe Mulling Wine — Gioacchino Assereto's Baroque enchantress, c. 1630 (Dayton Art Institute): she broods over the cup, the alchemy of the isle distilled to a single dark thought.
Circe — Wright Barker's 1889 portrait: wand in hand, ringed by lions, wolves, and foxes — the men she has remade in animal form, kept as her court on Aiaia.
