Telemachus Requests Permission from Pluto to Seek His Father in the Underworld

Bartolomeo Pinelli

National Gallery of Art

The image shows five figures portrayed from head to toe. The person on the far left wears ornate armor and a plumed helmet, holding a spear in their left hand and gesturing with their right hand. The second figure from the left is seated, dressed in a flowing gown with a sash, calmly looking towards the seated figure on their right, with their left hand resting on their companion's arm. The central figure is a bearded man with long hair, sitting with legs apart, muscular, bare-chested, draped with cloth below the waist, and holding a long staff or trident in his right hand. Two additional figures are between the seated figures, with one leaning back near the center, and another crouched over with their face obscured by their arms. The background features a rocky setting, resembling a cave-like atmosphere, with a distant scene on the left showing smoke or fire near a settlement by water.