The Apotheosis of Homer

…by the famous artist Dominique Ingres

painting by the famous artist Dominique Ingres

The Apotheosis of Homer was a state commissioned painting commissioned by Charles X and completed by the artist Dominique Ingres in 1827. It was to decorate a ceiling of the musée Charles X at the Louvre. The same gallery now houses the ancient Egyptian collection. Over 100 drawings have been found chronicalling the process by which Ingres created the painting. The original name of the work provides a bit of insight into why a number of figures are dressed in a variety of clothing styles – “Homer receiving homage from all the great men of Greece, Rome and modern times. The Universe crowns him, Herodotus burns incense. The Iliad and Odyssey sit at his feet.”

The painting includes such notable figures as:

• Aeschylus
• Aesop
• Alexander the Great
• Apelles
• Boileau
• Corneille
• Euripides
• Fenelon
• Herodotus
• Hesiod
• Horace
• Longinus
• Luis Vaz de Camões
• Lycurgus
• Menander
• Michelangelo
• Mozart
• Orpheus
• Pericles
• Pheidias
• Pindar
• Plato
• Poussin
• Raphael
• Sappho
• Seneca
• Socrates
• Sophocles
• Virgil
• Voltaire

To learn more about the artist and view a selection of his other famous works, please visit Dominique Ingres Biography.