The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of July 18, 2026
Thalia (comedy, pastoral poetry) (from the Tarocchi series D: Apollo and the Muses, #16)
before 1467
Location: Not on view
Did You Know?
Thalia is the only Muse in the Tarocchi series that is not represented with a celestial disk. Indeed, Thalia was believed to be a bucolic Muse, thus related to earth.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, Talia (Thalia) is personified as a female figure, in profile to left, seated on ivy, and set an imaginary landscape. She is playing a viola. Thalia was regarded as the Muse of comedy.
- CMA 1996: Sets and Series: Five Centuries of Master Prints, February 20-May 5, 1996, no cat.Old Master Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 29, 1966-February 28, 1967).
- {{cite web|title=Thalia (comedy, pastoral poetry) (from the Tarocchi series D: Apollo and the Muses, #16)|url=false|author=Master of the E-Series Tarocchi|year=before 1467|access-date=18 July 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1924.432.16