PAIR OF BRONZE STATUETTES WITH ANTIQUE PATINA

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