4x5 transparency scanned on Hasselblad Flextight X1 by Ed Pollard-2010.

Concert of Apollo and the Muses on Mount Helicon

Artist Maerten van Heemskerck (Netherlandish, 1498 - 1574)

Date1565

MediumOil on panel

Dimensions40 3/4 x 51 1/4 in. (103.5 x 130.2 cm)
Overall, Frame: 49 x 59 1/2 x 2 1/2 in. (124.5 x 151.1 x 6.4 cm)

ClassificationsEuropean art

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number71.479

Terms

Mythology
Yellow
Green
Brown
Blue
White
Netherlands

Collections

European Art before 1945

On View

On view

DescriptionDepicted on this oil on panel painting is a scene from Helicon, illustrated by the artist as "an idyllic, tree-shaded paradise" (Harrison, Chrysler Museum Handbook, p. 16). Many inspired mortals play instruments, dance and bathe while putti hover above, dispensing laurel wreaths.

Label TextMaerten van Heemskerck Netherlandish, 1498–1574 Concert of Apollo and the Muses on Mount Helicon, 1565 Oil on wood For humanists like Maerten van Heemskerck, the ancient god of music Apollo and his nine companions embodied the ennobling power of music and its sister arts. Yet, while High Renaissance artists like Raphael envisioned their mythic gatherings as a tightly ordered frieze of stately figures (see illustration), the Mannerist artist Heemskerck interpreted it as a playful park scene brimming with anecdotal details. Even Apollo, the supposed maestro, is pushed to the middle distance, far behind the tiny attendant pumping the organ. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.479