id: 143775
accession number: 1968.212
share license status: CC0
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1968.212
updated: 2023-03-20 14:14:21.342000
Terpsichore Lyran (Muse of Lyric Poetry), 1816. Antonio Canova (Italian, 1757–1822). Marble; overall: 177.5 x 78.1 x 61 cm (69 7/8 x 30 3/4 x 24 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1968.212
title: Terpsichore Lyran (Muse of Lyric Poetry)
title in original language:
series:
series in original language:
creation date: 1816
creation date earliest: 1816
creation date latest: 1816
current location:
creditline: Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund
copyright:
---
culture: Italy, 19th century
technique: marble
department: Modern European Painting and Sculpture
collection: Mod Euro - Sculpture 1800-1960
type: Sculpture
find spot:
catalogue raisonne:
---
CREATORS
* Antonio Canova (Italian, 1757–1822) - artist
---
measurements: Overall: 177.5 x 78.1 x 61 cm (69 7/8 x 30 3/4 x 24 in.)
state of the work:
edition of the work:
support materials:
inscriptions:
inscription: inscribed on front of column: "Terpsichore Lyran" [Terpsichore as the Muse of lyric poetry]; inscribed at base of column: "Canova Fact: 1816"
translation:
remark:
---
CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
title: Year in Review: 1968
opening date: 1969-01-29T05:00:00
Year in Review: 1968. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 29-March 9, 1969).
---
LEGACY EXHIBITIONS
* Royal Academy, London, United Kingdom (1817).
---
PROVENANCE
Simon H. Clarke, 9th Bt., 1764-1832 (Oak Hill, East Barnet, England);
date:
footnotes:
citations:
Alfred de Rothschild, 1842-1918 (Halton, Buckinghamshire, England), by inheritance to his nephew, Lionel de Rothschild, 1918;
date:
footnotes:
citations:
Lionel Nathan de Rothschild, 1882-1942 (Exbury, Hampshire, England), 1918-1942, by inheritance to his first son, Edmund Leopold de Rothschild, 1942;
date:
footnotes:
citations:
Edmund Leopold de Rothschild, born 1916 (Exbury, Hampshire, England), sold to Wildenstein & Co., 1963;
date:
footnotes:
citations:
Wildenstein & Co. (New York, New York), sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1968.
date:
footnotes:
citations:
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
date: 1968-
footnotes:
citations:
---
fun fact:
Trained by his grandfather, an Italian stonemason, Canova began modeling clay and carving marble sculptures before age ten.
digital description:
wall description:
In Greek mythology, Terpsichore was one of the nine Muses, or goddesses of creative inspiration. The lyre, the Greek inscription on the short column, and the caduceus (entwined snakes) on the side identify the figure as Terpsichore Lyran, muse of lyric poetry. This sculpture began with a commission from Napoleon's brother, Lucien, for an idealized portrait of his wife, Alexandrine. Antonio Canova made this version for a British aristocrat and exhibited it in 1817 at the Royal Academy in London to great acclaim.
---
RELATED WORKS
---
CITATIONS
Teotochi Albrizzi, Isabella, Leopoldo Cicognara, and Henry Moses. The Works of Antonio Canova: In Sculpture and Modelling. London: S. Prowett, 1824.
page number:
url:
Lee, Sherman E. "The Year in Review for 1968." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 56, no. 1 (1969): 3-50.
page number:
url: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25152250.
Honour, Hugh. "Canova's Statue of a Dancer." The National Gallery of Canada Bulletin Vol. 6, no. 1 (November 1968): 4-31.
page number: Reproduced: p. 7, fig. 4
url:
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
page number: Reproduced: p. 164
url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n188
The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art LVI (September 1969): 287-302.
page number: Reproduced: pp. 288-290, 292, 295
url:
L'opera completa del Canova. Milano, Italy: Rizzoli, 1976.
page number: Reproduced: p.119, no. 212
url:
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.
page number: Reproduced: p. 203
url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n223
Licht, Fred, and David Finn. Canova. New York, New York: Abbeville Press, 1983.
page number: Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 210-213
url:
Borowitz, Helen O. The Impact of Art on French Literature: From De Scudéry to Proust. Newark, Delaware: University of Delaware Press, 1985.
page number: Mentioned: p. 57; Reproduced: p. 58
url:
Donley, Gregory M, "A Discerning Eye", Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 39 no. 05, May 1999
page number: Mentioned & reproduced: p. 6
url: https://archive.org/details/CMAMM1999-05/page/n5
Weisser, Silja Mareke. Der Tanz als Darstellungsproblem der Skulptur im 19. Jahrhundert: unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Interdependenz zwischen Ballett und Skulptur. Frankfurt am Main: P. Lang, 2000.
page number: Mentioned: p. 281; Reproduced: p. 301
url:
May, Sally Ruth, Jane Takac, and Barbara J. Bradley. Knockouts: A Pocket Guide. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001.
page number: Reproduced: p. 56; Mentioned: p. 117
url:
Franklin, David. Director's Choice: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012.
page number: Reproduced and mentioned: pp. 50-51
url:
Treasures of the Cleveland Museum of Art. London, United Kingdom: Scala Books, 2012.
page number: Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 224-225
url:
Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014.
page number: Mentioned and reproduced: P. 286
url:
---
IMAGES
web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1968.212/1968.212_web.jpg
print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1968.212/1968.212_print.jpg
full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1968.212/1968.212_full.tif