A Muse of Poetry
19th century
Medium
Graphite and chalk on paper
Dimensions
14 1/2 x 6 in. (36.8 x 15.2 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Fletcher Fund, 1935
Accession Number
35.93.3
Tags
Art Historical Context
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, a leading French Symbolist artist of the late 19th century, *A Muse of Poetry* a delicate drawing in graphite and chalk on paper. Measuring just 14½ x 6 inches, this intimate work captures the ethereal essence of one of the Muses from Greek mythology—goddesses who inspired the arts, with this figure embodying poetry's lyrical power. Puvis, renowned for his dreamlike murals adorning public spaces like the Paris Panthéon, often drew from classical antiquity to evoke timeless ideals of beauty and spirituality. The artwork exemplifies Puvis's mastery of mixed media, ble...
About the Artist
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes · 1824–1898
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (1824–1898) was a French painter who became the foremost muralist of nineteenth-century France and a crucial bridge between academic tradition and modernism. Born in Lyon to a prosperous family, he studied briefly with Henri Scheffer and Thomas Couture in Paris and traveled to Italy, where the frescoes of the Italian Renaissance made a lasting impression on his artistic v...