Allegories of History

Pictorical Representations of Clio, the Muse of History

Author unknown, “Virgil writing the VIII verse of the Aeneid while being inspired by the muses, Clio and Melpomene”, beginning of the III century AD. The National Bardo Museum, Tunisia. (Discovered in a house in Sousse, Hadrumetum, Tunisia).

Giovanni Baglione, “Clio”, c. 1620-24. Musée des Beaux-Arts, Arras, France.

Artemisia Gentileschi, “Clio, the Muse of History”, 1632. Cassa di Risparmio di Pisa, Pisa, Italy.

Eustache Le Sueur, “The Muses: Clio, Euterpe, and Thalia”, 1652-55. Musée du Louvre, Paris

Jan Vermeer, “The Art of Painting”, 1665-67. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. (The painted figure is a symbol of Clio).

Pierre Mignard, “Clio”, 1689. Szépmûvészeti Múzeum, Budapest.

Franz Ignaz Günther, “The Muse Clio Writing History”, c. 1763. Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne.

Francisco Bayeu, “Clio”, white chalk, black chalk on green paper, before 1769. Museo del Prado, Madrid.

Jean-Jacques Lagrenée, “Clio”, before 1821. Private collection.

Boris Anrep, “Virginia Woolf as Clio, the Muse of History”, 1933. The National Gallery, London.

Vitaly Komar and Alexander Malamid, “Stalin and the Muses”, 1981-82. Robert and Maryse Boxer private collection.

Sculptural Representations of Clio, the Muse of History

Unknown author, “Pensive Muse (Clio)”, 50-90 AD. Museo del Prado, Madrid. (Roman replica based on an original sculpted around 150 BC in Ionia, Asia Minor).

Unknown author, “Clio, Muse of History”, marble, Roman artwork from the 2nd century AD. Pio-Clementino Museum, Vatican Museums, Vatican City. (From the Villa of Cassius near Tivoli).

Unknown author, “Clio, Muse of History”, 2nd century AD Roman copy from a Greek original. The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.

Unknown author, “The Muse Clio”, marble, 130-150 AD. Museo del Prado, Madrid. (Found in Hadrian´s Villa at Tivoli).

Unknown author, “Clio, Muse of History, holding writing tablets”. Detail from the “Muses Sarcophagus” (representing the nine Muses and their attributes), marble, first half of the 2nd century AD. Louvre Museum, Paris. (Found by the Via Ostiense).

“History and the winged god Chronos” (at the right), 19th century. Library of the Wiblingen Monastery, Ulm, Germany.

Giovanni Volpato, “Clio”, bisque, 1790s. Liebieghaus, Frankfurt.

Carlo Franzoni, “Car of History”, c. 1819. Statuary Hall, U.S. Capitol, Washington D.C. (Depiction of Clio).

Pictorical Representations of the Passing of Time

Giorgione, “The Three Ages of Man”, c. 1500-1501. Galleria Palatina, Florence, Italy.

Agnolo Bronzino, “Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time”, c. 1545. National Gallery, London.

Titian, “Allegory of Prudence”, c. 1550-65. National Gallery, London. (There is a barely visible inscription above the portrait, which says in Latin: “From the experience of the past, the present acts prudently, lest it spoil future actions”).

Paolo Veronese, “Saturn (Time) and History”, 1560-61. Villa Barbaro, Veneto, Italy.

Frans Hals, “Young Man holding a Skull (Vanitas)”. c. 1626. National Gallery, London.

Johann Heinrich Schönfeld, “Allegory of Time (Chronos and Eros)”, 1630s. Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica, Rome.

Antonio de Pereda, “Allegory of Vanity”, 1632-36. Kunsthistorisches Museum. Vienna, Austria.

Pietro Liberi, “Time Being Overcome by Truth”, c. 1665. Private collection.

Philippe de Champaigne, “Vanitas”; c. 1671. Musée de Tessé, Le Mans, France.

Giovan Battista Beinaschi, “Allegory of the Time”, 1675-80. Macerata Musei, Palazzo Buonaccorsi, Italy.

Jean-François de Troy, “An Allegory of Time Unveiling Truth”, 1733. National Gallery, London.

Bartolomeo Altomonte, “The Four Seasons Paying Homage to Chronos”, c. 1737. Residenzgalerie, Salzburg.

Francisco de Goya, “Truth, Time and History”, 1797-1800. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Sweden.

Francisco de Goya, “The old women or The Time”, 1810-12. Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille, France.

Salvador Dalí, “The Persistence of Memory”, 1931. Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Copyright ©: These photographs of paintings and sculptures are shown in small size and with strictly educational (non-commercial) purposes. The rights to use or reproduce the photographs of these works belong to their authors or to the holders of those rights.