PAIR OF STATUETTES IN BRONZE PATINA AFTER THE ANTIQUE

A very nice pair of bronze statuettes with brown patina representing two figures after the antique: the poet and his muse. The adolescent with a pensive face, surrounded by curls and crowned with a laurel wreath, wears a pleated toga, edged with purple bands. Bare-chested, with his face turned to the left, he holds a scroll of parchment in one hand while with the other he lightly touches his chin. His meditative gaze is an allusion to his art: lyric poetry. In antiquity, it is the expression of personal feelings of the poet who sings his emotions, aspirations, joys and sorrows. Its counterpart is a draped woman with her hair up in a bun and adorned with a diadem, holding a lyre in her left arm, a musical instrument that originally accompanied sung poetry. This is Erato, the muse of lyrical poetry, one of the nine muses in Apollo's procession, depicted in Raphael's "Parnassus" (1509-1511). In ancient Greece, the Muses presided over poetic inspiration and all intellectual activities. Apollo, the god of music, led their chorus. The subject of artistic creation and inspiration was very popular during the Italian Renaissance, but also in the 17th century in France with the famous example of Poussin: "The Inspiration of the Poet" (1629-1630). Each bronze rests on a circular base and a stepped pedestal. Circa: 1830 Dim: W:11,5cm, D:11,5cm, H:33cm.