About this work
A central female figure, dressed in red, is seated at her loom, flanked by two maids who assist in her weaving.
The queen turns her back to an open window, through which a group of male figures peer — vying for her affection, presenting a lyre, a bouquet of flowers, and a gold jewellery box.
Unbeknownst to them, the tapestry thread held between Penelope's teeth is about to be severed — her quiet act of defiance concealed in plain sight.
Below the window, within the interior, a battle frieze lines the wall, while a gold lantern, a basket of yarn, and a gold chalice furnish the space. The palette is warm and richly layered — deep crimsons, burnished golds, and earthy ochres — animated by Waterhouse's characteristic loose, confident brushwork.
The painting was created in 1912 , and was acquired directly by Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums that same year.
Completed in England on the eve of the First World War, the work resonates in a wartime context — it can be read as commentary on the transformation of domestic roles as men were sent off to battle, a celebration of women's steadfastness on the home front. The myth itself, drawn from Homer's *Odyssey*, gave Waterhouse his ideal subject: Penelope promises to choose a new husband only after completing a funeral shroud, but secretly unravels her weaving each night so that it remains forever incomplete.
Scholar Anthony Hobson calls *Penelope and the Suitors* "one of Waterhouse's major paintings," and its immediate purchase by a public institution confirms the esteem in which it was held at the time of its making.
The painting rewards a room with substance — a study lined with books, a dining room that hosts long evenings, a hallway wide enough to give it breathing space. Its warm, interior palette means it reads well in low or natural light, deepening rather than fading as the day changes. Penelope does not cower; she gazes sideways, proceeding with her precarious act of deception — and the dynamic of power is far more complex than what first meets the eye. This is a painting for viewers who like their mythology layered: those drawn to stories of intelligence over force, and to the quiet drama of a woman who outwits an entire room without ever rising from her chair.
