Unchanged by any teller — how the centuries since have seen Erato.
The gallery
Erato, Muse of Lyrical Poetry
Charles Meynier, 1800
Painted in 1800 by the French Neoclassical artist Charles Meynier and now in the Cleveland Museum of Art, this canvas presents Erato as the patron of amorous song. Crowned with roses and seated in a serene pastoral setting, the Muse cradles a golden lyre — her defining attribute — while a small winged Eros at her side identifies the love poetry that is her particular gift among the nine sisters of Helicon. Meynier conceived the picture as one of a series of individual Muses, isolating Erato so that her cool, idealized grace embodies the inspiration the ancient poets invoked when they sang of desire.
The Muse Erato Writing Verses Inspired by Love
Charles Meynier, 1797
This black-chalk and wash drawing by Charles Meynier, dated 1797 and held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is a preparatory study for his series of the Muses. It shows Erato in the act that gives her her name — she who is 'lovely' or 'beloved' — setting down verses while a hovering Cupid whispers their amorous subject to her. The lyre rests within reach, and the tender exchange between Muse and winged love-god makes explicit the ancient tradition that assigned to Erato the poetry of love and eros, distinct from the epic and tragic spheres of her sisters.
Erato, Muse of Lyrics
Giovanni Baglione, c. 1620
The Roman Baroque painter Giovanni Baglione depicted Erato around 1620 as a richly draped young woman absorbed in music, holding her instrument as the muse of lyric song. Baglione, a rival and biographer of Caravaggio, renders the figure with dramatic chiaroscuro and a sumptuous palette typical of early Seicento Rome. By naming her Erato among the nine Muses, the work draws on the post-classical iconographic tradition in which she presides over the lyre and the poetry of love, one luminous member of the Heliconian chorus that inspires mortal singers.