The Dispute between the Muses and the Daughters of Pierios on Parnassus
1553
Medium
Engraving, printed in black, on paper
Dimensions
24.5 × 38.4 cm (9 11/16 × 15 1/8 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
80257
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
A Renaissance printmaker who also reproduced ancient medals, Enea Vico engraved this scene of embattled female artistry. The Muses, daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne and companions of Apollo on Mount Parnassus, spread art and culture throughout the world. But their gifts also inspired hubris. According to Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the mythical Macedonian king Pierios named his nine daughters after the Muses, believing they would be as talented. Here Apollo, a wreathed Dionysos, and other gods watch as...
About the Artist
Enea Vico · 1523–1567
Enea Vico (1523–1567) was born in Parma and came of age during the final, energetic decades of Italian Renaissance printmaking. By 1541 he had made his way to Rome, where he entered the orbit of the engraver and publisher Tommaso Barlacchi and began his professional career. In Rome, Vico encountered the work of the most celebrated printmakers of the preceding generation—Marcantonio Raimondi, Agost...