Seated Muse or Nymph on Rock (Adaptation of Urania Type)

Description The Muses were the nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (Memory) and were associated with various arts: Calliope (epic poetry), Clio (history), Euterpe (flute-playing), Terpsichore (lyric poetry and dance), Erato (lyric poetry), Melpomene (tragedy), Thalia (comedy), Polyhymnia (hymns and pantomime), and Urania (astronomy). In Greek myth and culture, the Muses were honored as beautiful goddesses who brought inspiration to artists. In the Hellenistic period, the Muses were widely depicted, and certain statue types have been thought to depict particular Muses. This seated Muse, holding her chin in a thoughtful gesture, is traditionally thought to be Urania, Muse of astronomy. Statues of the Muses also adorned the great scholarly complex in Alexandria known as the Mouseion, "Place of the Muses," which has given us the modern word "museum."

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
6/23/1961	Treatment	cleaned
5/26/1988	Treatment	cleaned
2/08/1994	Loan Consideration	examined for loan

Exhibitions

• From Alexander to Cleopatra: Greek Art of the Hellenistic Age. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1988-1989.
• An Obsession with Fortune: Tyche in Greek and Roman Art. Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven. 1994.

Provenance Feuardent, Paris, [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Joseph Brummer, New York and Paris, 1923, by purchase [Brummer inv. no. P812]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1924, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters, 1924