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| Keywords: Antonio Gai - Allegorical Figure or Muse - Walters 27291.jpg This is one of four large limestone figures that were originally installed as part of a set of 15 in the Palazzo Pisani in Venice where they were placed in niches above the stairs leading to the library As they were seen only from the front their backs were left in a rough state Gai has represented them as graceful elongated creatures in greatly animated poses wearing rich wavy draperies The figures are allegories representing symbolically abstract concepts or Muses goddesses of the liberal arts Their presence in connection with a library would allude to the pursuit of virtue through the study of the sciences and arts Their individual identities remain uncertain though some of their attributes correspond to those of figures in the Iconologia a widely read emblem book a book of symbols and their meanings by Cesare Ripa Italian ca 1560-ca 1625 first published in 1593 This allegorical figure or Muse holds an open book With delicately posed fingers she grips a now-broken object which might have been a writing tool between 1725 1769 limestone cm 304 accession number 27 291 35350 Raoul Heilbronner Paris Glaenzer and Co New York Henry Walters Baltimore after 1900 by purchase Walters Art Museum Henry Walters Acquired by Henry Walters after 1900 place of origin Venice Italy Walters Art Museum license Baroque sculpture in the Walters Art Museum Antonio Gai Media contributed by the Walters Art Museum needs category review | ||||
