Artwork Page for Clio, Muse of History

Details / Information for Clio, Muse of History

Clio, Muse of History

1800

Charles Meynier

(French, 1768–1832)
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Culture
France, late 18th-early 19th century
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
Framed: 290 x 192.4 x 7 cm (114 3/16 x 75 3/4 x 2 3/4 in.); Unframed: 273 x 176 cm (107 1/2 x 69 5/16 in.)
Credit Line
Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2003.6.5
Public Domain
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Location
201 French Neoclassical Painting & Sculpture
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Did You Know?

Clio's name is derived from a Greek word meaning "to recount" or "to celebrate."

Description

Clio, the Greek muse of history, is the daughter of Zeus and Titaness Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory. Clio is depicted here writing and surrounded by objects associated with preserving the memory of historical figures and events: busts, reliefs, and sculptures. This painting belongs to a cycle of works commissioned by businessman François Boyer-Fonfréde for his home in Toulouse.
Oil painting of Clio, a muse with light skin tone seated with her legs facing our right but looking to our left. Feathered wings extend from her back, open and transitioning from white feathers to brown. She wears a laurel wreath in her black, wavy hair, a yellow and light-purple garment, and braces a rectangular tablet on her knee, reaching out as if to write on it. A column and trees stand behind her. Busts, reliefs, and sculptures scatter around her.

Clio, Muse of History

1800

Charles Meynier

(French, 1768–1832)
France, late 18th-early 19th century

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