The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 24, 2024
Polyhymnia, Muse of Eloquence
1800
(French, 1768–1832)
Overall: 275 x 177 cm (108 1/4 x 69 11/16 in.)
Did You Know?
Meynier was trained in a studio known by the students of Jacques-Louis David as the atelier of the "perruques" (wigs), a name given to royalists or conservatives of the period.Description
Polymnia is one of the nine muses in Greek mythology and a patron of dancing or geometry. She is portrayed here standing in front of a bust of the Athenian orator Demosthenes. This painting belongs to a cycle of five works commissioned by businessman François Boyer-Fonfréde for his home in Toulouse.- In 1819, Nicolas-Antoine de Castella, general of the Swiss regiments in France, purchased the paintings and placed them in his Castle of Wallenreid, Switzerland; direct descendants; Pierre de Castella, Mannaz, Switzerland.
- Bellenger, Sylvain, Paul J. and Edith Ingalls Vignos Jr. "Magnificent Muses", Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 44 no. 01, January 2004 Mentioned & reproduced: p. 4-5 archive.orgBracken Sparks, Amy, "Disappearing Act", Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 48 no. 5, May/June 2008 Mentioned & reproduced: p. 10 archive.org
- {{cite web|title=Polyhymnia, Muse of Eloquence|url=false|author=Charles Meynier|year=1800|access-date=24 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2003.6.1