Circe in the Works of Waterhouse

Article by Flora

Nineteenth-century artist John William Waterhouse was inspired by the tales and myths of the Ancient Greek world. Circe, a curious figure from Greek mythology, was one of his favorites to study. He made three paintings with Circe.


The Sorceress. 1911

Circe is a sorceress wise and skilled in potion-making and herb lore. Perhaps Waterhouse depicted her in The Sorceress as a student of nature, studying with a book open on her desk and experimenting with potions on the same desk, which may be regarded as a laboratory setting. Even though the liquid inside the bottle looks like wine, considering Circe’s knowledge and art, it may well be a potion she is working on.

Circe Offering to Cup to Ulysses

The Odyssey is a long epic written by Homer or a long line of Aegean poets who wrote under the same name: Homer. The Odyssey is about the circle of life and how going through the endeavours, tests and trials in life shapes us: helping us to
become wise and reach our true potential.

At the beginning of his journey, the main character, Odysseus (sometimes referred to as Ulysses; it is the same name, same character), is a brilliant man who uses his intellect for trickery and destruction. We find Odysseus also in the Iliad; he is one of the prominent warriors famous for his wit and cunning skills. The Odyssey is about his journey home, back to his home in Ithaca from Troy. After going through the cycle of the Odyssey, Odysseus transforms into a mature figure who saves his life and his family. Throughout his journey, he meets giants, monsters, sirens, and a sorceress: Circe

During the course of the epic, Odysseus and his crew land on the island of Aeaea. On this island, Hermes meets Odysseus and gives him a plant named Moly, which protects him from Circe’s magic. After that, Odysseus and his crew find Circe’s dwelling and enter. Circe offers them wine, which turns all of Odysseus’ crew into swine, save Odysseus himself. Waterhouse painted this scene where Circe offers the wine cup to Odysseus, but his cunning gaze sees through her purpose via the mirror placed on the seat of the Sorceress:

Circe Offering the Cup to Odysseus

A crucial detail in this painting is that Circe is seated on a throne. Her throne is almost identical to the classical thrones of the Anatolian/Greek/Roman Great Goddess Cybele. Two lions at the sides, supporting the throne, is a repeating theme rooted back in time, down to the Neolithic age.


Circe tells Odysseus how to pass through the enchanting songs of the sirens. She instructs him to cover the ears of his crew with beeswax and get himself tied to the mast of his ship as they pass through the rocky strait of the Sirens. Waterhouse has also painted this scene: Ulysses and The Sirens:

Ulysses and the Sirens

Circe Invidiosa

There is another Circe painting by Waterhouse, depicting another adventure of the Sorceress told to us in Ovid’s Metamorphoses: Circe falls in love with the Sea-god Glaukos, but Glaukos is in love with Scylla. Thus, Circe turns the waters where Scylla bathes into poison, and Scylla becomes a terrible monster to look at after being soaked in these poisonous waters. In this painting, we can see how rage takes over her mind in Circe Invidiosa’s silent face. This is one of the interesting features of Greek and Roman myth: godly, transcendent characters sometimes act like humans.

Circe Invidiosa, John William Waterhouse

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