The Muse
Medium
Lithograph in black with scraping on stone on ivory wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 22.9 × 15.2 cm (9 1/16 × 6 in.); Sheet: 32.5 × 25.4 cm (12 13/16 × 10 in.)
Classification
lithograph
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
44059
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Paying homage to the composer, Fantin depicts Richard Wagner seated at a desk in front of an open book with a plume in hand. The figure of a muse bearing a palm leaf, a symbol of divine inspiration and genius, embraces the composer.
About the Artist
Henri Fantin-Latour · 1836–1904
Ignace Henri Jean Théodore Fantin-Latour was born on January 14, 1836, in Grenoble, France, to portrait painter Théodore Fantin-Latour, who gave him his earliest drawing lessons. The family relocated to Paris in 1841, where in 1850, at age 14, he enrolled in the École de Dessin, studying under Horace Lecoq de Boisbaudran, whose innovative memory-based method of drawing from observation profoundly ...