A masterpiece of Late Pre-Raphaelitism illustrating a famous scene from Homer's Odyssey. Desiring to hear the Sirens' seductive yet lethal song, Ulysses has himself bound to the ship's mast while his men row with ears sealed in wax. Departing from the typical Victorian motif of sirens as mermaids, Waterhouse drew inspiration from ancient Greek vase art, rendering them as menacing avian creatures with women's heads swooping down on the galley in a dramatic confrontation between human willpower and fatal desire.