Circe - the temptress

Hermans depicts a modern day rendition of the seductress Circe, a figure described in Homer's Odyssey. According to the tale, Ulysses encountered the sorceress on his journey home from the Trojan war. Circe invited passing travellers onto her island and offered drinks containing a potion which turned them into pigs. Ulysses himself was able to overcome the potion and restored his men to their previous forms, but Circe is often depicted, as in the present work, in her palace surrounded by men slumped at a table or half transformed into animals.