Allegory of Music (The Muse Erato). Tempera on Poplar Panel (ca. 1500).
Filippino Lippi (Italian, ca. 1457–1504), son of Filippo Lippi, centers this High Renaissance composition on Erato, the Muse of lyric poetry. The goddess tames a large swan with a ribbon, aided by two winged putti.
Because the swan belongs to Apollo, the god of music, whose raw inspiration can be wild and chaotic, Erato’s act of restraining it with a soft ribbon symbolizes how poetic meter, rhythm, and artistic structure master these overwhelming impulses.
Nearby, a pan flute rests near an exotic lyre fashioned from a stag skull and antlers. A cool, luminous color scheme heightens the dreamlike atmosphere.
Loc. Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany. Dim. 62.5 cm x 51.8 cm (24.6 in x 20.3 in)