Four Dancing Muses
Medium
engraving on laid paper
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Print Purchase Fund (Rosenwald Collection)
Accession Number
1975.53.2
Art Historical Context
**Four Dancing Muses** is a delicate engraving created around 1500–1505 by Giovanni Antonio da Brescia a skilled Italian printmaker, faithfully reproducing a composition by the renowned Renaissance master Andrea Mantegna. Mantegna, a pioneer of the early Renaissance in northern Italy, drew inspiration from classical antiquity, infusing his works with precise perspective, graceful figures, and a sense of movement. Here, the four muses—embodiments of artistic inspiration—dance in rhythmic unity, their flowing drapery and poised gestures evoking the joy of poetry, music, and dance from Greek myth...