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What does The Apotheosis of Homer celebrate?
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Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
Self-portrait, oil on canvas by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, c. 1800; in the Condé Museum, Chantilly, France.
The Apotheosis of Homer (1827) by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres serves as a monumental hymn of praise to classicism.12
The painting celebrates the enduring legacy of Homer by depicting him as a god, crowned with laurels by a figure representing Victory. At his feet, two women personify his foundational epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey.12
Surrounding Homer is a gathering of esteemed artists, poets, and philosophers from both ancient and modern history, including Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Raphael, and Nicolas Poussin. Through its rigid, symmetrical composition and idealization of these figures, the work was intended to uphold the conservative classical tradition against the rising influence of Romanticism.12