Homer

Homer Homer is a Greek poet who lived in the 8th century BC, author of the Iliad and the Odyssey. Nothing is known about his life; his appearance was never documented. In the ancient times it was commonly considered that he was blind. The marble bust kept in Łańcut is a copy of a marble bust of Homer from the collection of Museo Nazionale in Naples, made based on a Greek sculpture probably dating from the 2nd century BC; the torso is modern. The antique bust of Homer is one of the most famous likenesses of him, depicting the poet as a blind man. It is an imaginary portrait from the Hellenistic period. Homer is depicted as an old man, with his head leaning forward, bald, with sunken cheeks and wrinkles. What draws attention to his face are the small, smooth eyeballs in sunken eye sockets, disappearing into folds of skin and under lowered eyelids; they are unseeing. The eyebrows are outlined with a high, drooping arch. Lips slightly parted. The face is expressive, soulful. Falling from underneath the headband, tightly twisted locks of hair are joined by the same locks of beard surrounding the face; each curl is artistically developed with their mass giving an unusual chiaroscuro effect. The copy of the ancient bust of Homer was made by an Italian sculptor Giuseppe Pisani (1757–1839). The bust was made in 1805 in Vienna and has belonged to the Łańcut collection since 1948. It was taken over by the museum from the Museum Depot in Przeworsk established in the Lubomirski Palace, nationalised in 1944, and including the local art collection. It is exhibited in the Sculpture Gallery, where copies of other antique sculptures are also presented. The collection of the Castle Museum in Łańcut includes also a plaster head of Homer based on the above original, made in the 4th quarter of the 18th century. It comes from the collection of Princess Izabela Lubomirska (1736–1816), the owner of the Łańcut castle. Formerly exhibited in the Sculpture Gallery, it was moved by the Potocki family to the Library, where it remains to this day. Barbara Trojnar