Who were the Greek Muses? Zeus, the thunderbolt-wielding king of the gods, and Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory, had nine daughters who were referred to as the nine Muses. The Muses were considered goddesses who brought inspiration. They inspired music, poetry, dance, and knowledge.
It’s interesting to note that it took the union of Zeus, often associated with the flash of lightning, and Mnemosyne, the mother of memory, to create the nine Muses as sources of inspiration. We sometimes refer to our moments of inspiration as coming to us “in a flash.” We may also think, “Why didn’t I think of that earlier?” as if it was something we already knew.
The first of the nine Muses was Calliope, which in Greek means “beautiful voiced.” Calliope was the Muse of eloquence and epic poetry. The last of the Muses was Urania. In Greek, Urania means “heavenly one.” As her name implies, she was the Muse of astronomy and astronomical writings.
Simon Vouet’s ‘The Muses Urania and Calliope’
The 16th- to 17th-century French painter Simon Vouet painted a lovely depiction of these two Muses called “The Muses Urania and Calliope.”At the far left of the piece, he painted Urania, dressed in white and blue, and wearing a crown of stars as she sits on a celestial globe. Her body faces Calliope, but her idealized face looks back over her shoulder at us, the viewers.
Calliope, however, dressed in yellow and pink, looks attentively at Urania as Urania places her hand on Calliope’s shoulder. Calliope holds a book in her lap. A partial word, “odiss,” can be seen on the book, which may identify it as Homer’s epic poem “Odyssey.”
The two Muses sit in front of ancient architecture with fluted columns that rise above their heads and outside of the picture plane. To the right of the Muses are three cherubs wearing yellow, pink, and blue sashes. The cherubs carry laurel wreaths toward the open landscape on the right side of the composition.
A Call to Praise the Eloquence of Heaven
What meanings may we gather from this painting? Let’s first look at Calliope and Urania. In his work “Phaedrus,” Plato describes Calliope and Urania as the Muses “who are chiefly concerned with heaven and thought, divine as well as human, and they have the sweetest utterance.”Based on the meanings of their names, when they are depicted together, they are the “beautiful-voiced heavenly one” who inspires music, poetry, dance, and knowledge about heaven.
Urania sits on the celestial globe, which could represent heaven supporting her. She looks over her shoulder at us, and her expression suggests that she’s silently waiting for us. What might she be waiting for us to do?
Before we answer that question, let’s look at Calliope. She is looking attentively at Urania, and Urania places her hand on Calliope’s shoulder as if to comfort her. However, there may be more to consider about the hands of these figures.
Does Urania touch Calliope as a way of sharing the heavens with her? And does Calliope turn toward her to accept it? Perhaps Urania is like a conduit of heavenly things, and heaven moves from the globe she sits on to Calliope, whom she touches.
Calliope continues this heavenly transference. What does Calliope touch? What does she share the heavens with? She touches Homer’s “Odyssey,” which suggests that the epic poem—literature—is a way by which the eloquence of heaven is shared. Thus, Urania shares heaven with Calliope, and Calliope shares heaven through poetry.
And what about the three cherubs? What might they represent? Though the cherubs are depicted behind Calliope, compositionally, they fly forth from the area where she holds the poem. Might they represent the inspiration to create epic poetry, beautiful words, and sweet utterances?
They carry laurel wreaths—symbols of victory—away from the two Muses. These are the things that they touch. So far, we can presume that the other two figures share heaven by the things they touch. Are the cherubs also sharing heaven by way of the laurel wreaths? I say yes.
And where are they carrying them? They are carrying them to our world to crown someone victorious. And whom might they crown victorious? Whoever among us might be worthy of being inspired to praise the eloquence of heaven. The ones the cherubs crown will be the ones the Muses inspire.
To return to our question above, I think that this is why Urania looks out at us: She calls us to be worthy enough for the Muses’ inspiration. And what are the worthy inspired to do? To speak on behalf of heaven’s truths with eloquence and beauty. Her look asks, “Who among you shall we inspire?”
Have you ever seen a work of art that you thought was beautiful but had no idea what it meant? In our series “Reaching Within: What Traditional Art Offers the Heart,” we interpret the classical visual arts in ways that may be morally insightful for us today. We try to approach each work of art to see how our historical creations might inspire within us our own innate goodness.
