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Thalia, the muse of Comedy: PD.14-2020

Object information

Current Location: In storage

Titles

Thalia, the muse of Comedy

Maker(s)

Natoire, Charles Joseph

Entities

Categories

Description

Thalia (or Thaleia) is one of the Nine Muses, the Ancient Greek goddess of comedy and pastoral poetry. As she is here, she is often depicted a joyful young woman. She is shown reclining on the ground, semi-nude, in a landscape with a male figure (possibly Apollo) behind and two young children either side (possibly the children of Thalia and Apollo, the Korybantes), the one to the left holding her attribute of a comic mask. Thalia is shown holding a shepherd's staff in her right hand, with books beside her and a banner across her lap and held in her left hand.

Notes

History note: Jean-Denis Lempereur (his stamp Lugt 1740); Thomas Williams Fine Art Ltd, London, 1999, cat. no. 25; Christie's New York, 26 January 2011, no. 291; Galerie Paul Prouté, from home purchased 10 May 2017

Legal notes

Bequeathed by John Vaughan Hart, 2020

Measurements and weight

Height: 224 mm
Width: 293 mm

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (2020) by Hart, John Vaughan

Dating

18th Century
Circa 1735 - 1740

Note

Thought to be a design for an over-door painting

Materials used in production

Ink

Components of the work

Support composed of blue paper

Techniques used in production

Drawing : Pen and ink with wash on blue paper

Inscription or legends present

  • Text: Natoire f.
  • Location: Lower left
  • Method of creation: Pen and ink
  • Type: Inscription

References and bibliographic entries

Identification numbers

Accession number: PD.14-2020
Primary reference Number: 241908
Lugt: 1740
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Thursday 13 August 2020 Updated: Tuesday 24 May 2022 Last processed: Friday 8 December 2023

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Paintings, Drawings and Prints

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Thalia, the muse of Comedy" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/241908 Accessed: 2024-04-26 05:12:28

Citation for Wikipedia

To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:

{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/241908 |title=Thalia, the muse of Comedy |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-04-26 05:12:28|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

API call for this record

To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:

https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/objects/object-241908

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