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Apollo and the Nine Muses
unknown - Enlarge image
Apollo and the Nine Muses
- Object:
Panel
- Place of origin:
England, Great Britain (probably, made)
- Date:
ca. 1580 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
unknown (production)
- Materials and Techniques:
Carved, painted and gilt oak
- Museum number:
A.12-1924
- Gallery location:
British Galleries, room 57a, case WE
Object Type
The subject, Apollo and the Nine Muses, represents the Arts in general. It would have been thought suitable for an important chamber of a grand house. Panels such as these served as overmantels and, together with the chimney-piece, were the most prominent part of the room.
Time
Apollo and the Nine Muses was a popular theme in European art from the 1530s onwards. This carving is characteristic of English work of the 1580s and similar to the alabaster overmantel of Apollo in the Nine Muses in the library of Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire. The rocky landscape and ruins in the background are similar to prints based on engravings such as Hieronymus Cock's Praecipua aliquot romanae Antiquitatis ruinarum monumenta ('Some outstanding monuments of Ancient Roman ruins'). Cock's work was published in Antwerp, Flanders (now Belgium), in 1551and soon became widely available in England.
Subjects Depicted
Music played an important part of life in the grand house. Musicians were often of the payroll of the owner and they provided music for banquets, dances and chapel services. Proficiency on the lute or spinet was considered the mark of a lady or gentleman. Here, Apollo plays the lyre while the nine muses play the following instruments (from left to right): lyre, recorder, viola da braccio, viola da mano, hurdy-gurdy, lute, triangle and oboe (added later, as oboes were not invented until 1650).
Place
The panel formed part of the Temple of the Muses at the Grange, Hockliffe, Bedfordshire. It is said to have come from the Manor House, Toddington, Bedfordshire, which was built in the 1570s and demolished in 1745.
