Artwork Page for Urania (astronomy) (from the Tarocchi series D: Apollo and the Muses, #12)

Details / Information for Urania (astronomy) (from the Tarocchi series D: Apollo and the Muses, #12)

Urania (astronomy) (from the Tarocchi series D: Apollo and the Muses, #12)

before 1467

Master of the E-Series Tarocchi

(Italian, active 1460s)
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Culture
Italy, Ferrara, 15th century
Medium
engraving hand-colored with gold
Credit Line
Dudley P. Allen Fund 1924.432.12
Catalogue raisonné
Hind E.I.12a
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print

Description

This engraving is part of the Tarocchi group marked with the letter “D,” and named Apollo and the Muses. In Greek mythology, the nine Muses (Calliope, Urania, Terpsichore, Erato, Polyhymnia, Thalia, Melpomene, Euterpe, and Clio) were the daughters of Zeus, king of the gods, and Mnemosyne, the Titaness of memory. The Muses were goddesses presiding over different branches of the arts and sciences. Their leader and supervisor was Apollo, the god of light, music, prophecy, and poetry.

Here, Urania is personified as a full-length female figure, set in an imaginary hilly landscape. She carries a celestial globe in her left hand, and a compass in her right hand, symbolizing that she is the Muse of Astronomy.
A vertically oriented engraving depicts Urania, a muse with light skin tone facing our left while looking toward us. She holds a gold sphere aloft in her raised left hand and a pair of dividers in her right. She wears voluminous, draped robes, her wavy hair flowing down her back. A landscape with rolling hills lies behind her. The scene is framed by a diagonal patterned border. Text at the bottom reads VRANIA XII.

Urania (astronomy) (from the Tarocchi series D: Apollo and the Muses, #12)

before 1467

Master of the E-Series Tarocchi

(Italian, active 1460s)
Italy, Ferrara, 15th century

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