In 1903, Steinway & Sons gifted a grand piano to President Theodore Roosevelt. It was commissioned for the East Room of the White House. Roosevelt’s Steinway was the main presidential piano until 1938, when it was donated to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. It witnessed the administrations of Roosevelt, William H. Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, and Franklin Roosevelt.
Designed by R. H. Hunt and J. H. Hunt, the gilded piano case was intricately carved by Juan Ayuso, a French citizen born in Bordeaux to Spanish parents. He meticulously inscribed seals of America’s original 13 colonies in marquetry around the piano’s body. Affluent elites coveted Steinway pianos carved by Ayuso: F.W. Woolworth (the founder of F. W. Woolworth Company and “Five-and-Dimes”) and the American business tycoons George J. Gould and Cornelius Vanderbilt commissioned Ayuso to carve piano cases for their estates.
The Nine Greek Muses
In Hesiod’s epic poem “Theogony” (7th century B.C.), the muses are introduced as the daughters of Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory, and Zeus, the king of the gods. According to Hesiod, Zeus lay with Titan Mnemosyne in Pieria for nine nights, bringing the nine muses into being.The muses are the goddesses of the sciences, literature, and the arts. They act as the figural embodiments of the inspiration for great cultural works. It is significant that the Titaness of Memory was the muses’ mother. In a predominantly illiterate ancient society, memory was the first requirement to recite great poetic works.
At the beginning of their poetic compositions, ancient bards invoked the muses’ assistance to remember the heroic epics. Thus, the invocation of the muse demonstrated that the narrator was working within the poetic tradition.
The first lines of Homer’s “Iliad” (8th century B.C.), a Greek epic poem about the celebrated warrior Achilles during the Trojan War, begins with, “The wrath sing, goddess,” an invocation of the muse Calliope, the muse of epic poetry. The muses act as a powerful force of memory, fulfilling their roles as sources of poetic inspiration.
Creative inspiration, an intangible and transcendental phenomenon that has fascinated artists for centuries, is both the impetus for and the effect of experiences with great art. The muses symbolize this phenomenon. It is thus fitting that “museum” derives from the word “muse,” as museums are simultaneously places that receive and display products of inspiration, and are places that facilitate creative inspiration through works of art. Our modern usage of the word “muse” distills the ancient concept still further, describing a person who inspires a creative impulse, one that is often romantic or stems from awe.
In ancient times, the names and number of muses varied by region. During the Classical period in ancient Greece, there were nine muses. They were often artistically depicted with their associated symbols. Calliope, the muse of epic poetry, carried a scroll, stylus, or writing tablet, while the muse of music and lyric poetry, Eurterpe, was most often depicted with an aulos, a flute-like ancient Greek wind instrument. Polyhymnia, the muse of eloquence and sacred poetry/hymn, wore a veil or carried grapes. Erato, the muse of lyrical and erotic poetry, was often accompanied by the winged Eros or depicted playing a cithara, a lyre-like ancient Greek stringed instrument, while Terpsichore, the muse of dance and choral song, carried a plectrum or lyre.
The tragedy/comedy masks were each worn or held by their respective muses: Thalia, the muse of comedy and idyllic poetry, and Melpomene, the muse of tragedy. Thalia has also been portrayed with a shepherd’s crook or ivy wreath, while Melpomenea sometimes held a blade, club, or wore kothornos—ancient Greek buskins. Clio, the muse of history, carried a book, scroll, or laurel wreath, whereas the muse of astronomy and astrology, Urania, was often crowned in stars or seen with a compass and globe.
Muses (L-R) Calliope, Thalia, Terpsichore, Euterpe, Polyhymnia, Clio, Erato, Urania, and Melpomene from the “Muses Sarcophagus,” 2nd century. Louvre Museum, Paris. (Public Domain)
Apollo and the Muses Throughout Art History
The Renaissance artist Raphael (1483–1520) painted “The Parnassus,” in the Stanza della Segnatura (Raphael Rooms) at the Palace of the Vatican in Rome. The fresco depicts Apollo playing a Renaissance-era instrument, surrounded by the nine muses. The scene unfolds atop the mythological Mount Parnassus, where Apollo was said to have dwelt. It portrays the god encircled by a group of nine bards from antiquity, nine contemporary poets, and the nine muses. Commissioned by Pope Julius II, the four walls of the Stanza della Segnatura illustrate the four domains of human knowledge: religion, philosophy, poetry, and law—with “The Parnassus” representing poetry.
Nicolas Poussin’s (1594–1665) oil painting “Apollo and the Muses on Mount Parnassus” was inspired by Raphael’s fresco and portrays a similar subject matter. The nine muses, encircling Apollo, gather with Homer, Virgil, and several poets on the banks of the Castalian Spring.
In Poussin’s rendition of the scene, Apollo is seated, torso exposed with drapery covering his legs, encompassed by the nine muses. The allegorical sources of creative inspiration are identifiable by their symbolic attributes, just as they are in Raphael’s fresco. Melpomene, dressed in a taupe himation (a wrap or mantle worn by Greek men and women, inhabiting the role of a modern shawl or cloak), wields a pointed, gilt dagger in her left hand and holds a tragic mask in her right hand. Euterpe, donning a golden chiton (an ancient Greek tunic that fastens at the shoulder), clutches panpipes in her left hand.
In 1916, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston commissioned John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) to design and decorate the rotunda of the museum. After an incredibly successful career as one of the leading 19th-century portrait painters, Sargent had recently completed a coveted commission decorating the majestic halls of the Boston Public Library with a mural cycle he called the “Triumph of Religion” (1895–1919). For the MFA, Boston, he conceived a mural cycle that would act as a tribute to the arts, engaging with themes from the ancient world and classical mythology.
When looked at beside Raphael’s “The Parnassus,” Sargent’s “Apollo and the Muses” is clearly in conversation with Italian fresco cycles. However, in a modern simplification of the same theme, Sargent reduced the color variety of the figures’ dresses, portrayed them all in cream drapery, and removed their identifying symbols. Thanks to the intuitive understanding built up by prior centuries of artistic representation, Sargent was at liberty to simplify the muses’ symbolism without losing their immediate thematic association in the 20th century.
Dewing’s Nine Muses
After touring through renditions of the muses within artistic traditions, we can view Dewing’s muses with fresh eyes. The tonalist painter departed a step further from the aesthetic tradition surrounding the muses’ depiction. In keeping with an American theme, Dewing replaced Apollo with the female figure of America, seated at the far left. Additionally, he broke with the tradition of portraying the muses in Greek drapery and rendered his women in colonial revival gowns.
By having America inhabit the space that Apollo usually filled and assimilating the Greek muses to the sartorial language of colonial America, Dewing imported the Greek art tradition to the New World. America, rather than Greece, became the steward of classical culture. This integration is embodied in the title of the painting “America Receiving the Nine Muses.” Upon opening the lid of the first presidential piano, those in the East Room of the White House were presented with a resplendent image of America receiving the abundance of the artistic Western canon.
