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View at the museum ↗Thalia, Muse of Comedy, plate 14 from Parnassus Biceps
Johann Theodor de Bry1601
- Attribution
- Johann Theodor de Bry (German, 1561-1623) after Jean-Jacques Boissard (French, 1533–1598)
- Medium
- Engraving in black on ivory laid paper
- Physical dimensions
- Image: 23.2 × 14 cm (9 3/16 × 5 9/16 in.); Plate: 25.8 × 14 cm (10 3/16 × 5 9/16 in.); Sheet: 28 × 16.3 cm (11 1/16 × 6 7/16 in.)
- Credit line
- The Wallace L. DeWolf and Joseph Brooks Fair Collections
Museum metadata is available under CC0. Image availability and rights are separate; consult the source record.
Source rights statement: Public domain
View the museum record ↗From the museum
In Greek mythology, the nine Muses governed the arts and music. Melpomene, in the print on the left (see 1920.2037), was the protector of tragedy; her counterpart Thalia, Muse of comedy and bucolic poetry, is visible on the right. Each Muse holds a mask—a tragic mask for Melpomene, a comic one for Thalia. Behind Thalia, a pedestal is piled with other comic masks. The duality of tragedy and comedy as manifested in these two deities brings to mind the universally recognizable image of the laughing and weeping faces used to symbolize theater today.
Description: Art Institute of Chicago · CC BY 4.0