Minerva and the Muses

Andrea Schiavone (Andrea Meldola)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Muses, daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (Memory), are mentioned by the Greek poets Hesiod and Homer as sources of inspiration for poets and musicians. Ovid (Metamorphoses 5.250–678) tells us that when Minerva (the Greek Athena) visited the sisters to see the miraculous fountain created by Pegasus, they told her about their victory over the nine daughters of the Macedonian king Pierus in a singing competition. Some of the Muses in this etching point upward, perhaps to the defeated Pierides, who were transformed into magpies. This etching was formerly attributed to Andrea Schiavone, yet the closed contours, rounded forms, and sweet, soft faces of the women are not found in any of his other works.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.

Metropolitan Museum of Art