Woodland Scene with Festooned Grapevines and a Buffalo Herd in the Distance

While employed as director of the art academy in the Kingdom of Naples during the 1790s, Wilhelm Tischbein conceived the idea of creating an illustrated edition of Homer’s Odyssey using classical sculptures of Greek heroes and scenes on antique cameos and vases as his models. That the ancient method of grape growing depicted in this etching was still practiced in parts of southern Italy prompted Tischbein to use it as the introductory plate to a section devoted to Odysseus’s encounter with the one-eyed giant Polyphemus.