Penelope Unraveling Her Web

The potter Josiah Wedgwood commissioned this painting from Joseph Wright of Derby as a tribute to female loyalty and industry. In Homer’s Odyssey, Penelope, awaiting the return of her husband Odysseus from the Trojan War, was beset by suitors to whom she promised she would marry once she finished a shroud for her father-in-law; steadfastly loyal, she unraveled her weaving at the end of each day. Wright presents her late at night, rewinding her thread into a ball by lamplight while her loom stands abandoned behind her. The painting is held in the J. Paul Getty Museum.