RUBENS, Peter Paul
(b. 1577, Siegen, d. 1640, Antwerpen)

Ulysses and Nausicaa on the Island of the Phaeacians

c. 1627
Oil on wood, 128 x 207 cm
Galleria Palatina (Palazzo Pitti), Florence

Nausicaa was doing the washing with her handmaidens when they came upon the shipwrecked and undressed Ulysses. Here she wears royal red as she falls in love at first sight. The king, her father, would equip a ship for Ulysses, but angry Poseidon would destroy it.