MY NINE MUSES ... writer's block and artist's block ... and a huge scrapbook slash undigested-research project

I've recently "finished" a clumsily rendered and frivolous little painting ... my dumbed-down version of nine muses ... mine are riding on nine unicorns ... no classical or mythical authenticity there then ... and accompanied by nine magpies, the Pierides ... 

The painting lay neglected for over a year until i remembered the story of the Pierides and added the nine magpies ... now i like to think that all are heading to Las Vegas for a lucrative re-match at Caesar's Palace ... can we assume that writer's block and artist's block are the same ?

During the gradual course of becoming interested in the Muses, i compiled a scrapbook in the form of a Word Document ( MY NINE MUSES ) that filled about a hundred pages, mostly with images ... i'm going to transfer some of them into my blog, along with some links and descriptions that seemed helpful to me at the time ... condensing this may take some time ...

the first stage of the project was trying to identify the nine names and then to see if there was a standard list of attributes, a consistent iconography ... fat chance !  after thousands of years, how could there be ?

But first ... a provisional list of their names and their special talents ...

Calliope	Epic Poetry	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calliope
Clio	History	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clio
Euterpe	Flutes & Music	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euterpe
Thalia	Comedy & Pastoral Poetry	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalia_(Muse)
Melpomene	Tragedy	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melpomene
Terpsichore	Dance	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terpsichore
Erato	Love Poetry & Lyric Poetry	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erato
Polyhymnia	Sacred Poetry	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyhymnia
Urania	Astronomy	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urania

and then 

CALLIOPE, MUSE OF EPIC POETRY, she’s holding a book

Goddess of Eloquence, Mother of Orpheus

https://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/MousaKalliope.html

Calliope by Simon Vouet, 1634 … wearing red and yellow

https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.46160.html

Calliope with books, Italy, late 17^th Century

https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-5097661/?intObjectID=5097661

Calliope Mourning Homer

https://harvardartmuseums.org/collections/object/230368?position=230368

CLIO … MUSE OF HISTORY

she holds a book, too ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clio

https://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/MousaKleio.html

Clio by Simon Vouet, Karlsruhe Kunsthalle

Clio by Charles Meynier

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2003.6.5#

Clio by Francois Boucher, 1742

https://histoirebnf.hypotheses.org/3809

Corot ...

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435978?ft=Parnassus&offset=80&rpp=40&pos=86

Vermeer ...The Art of Painting ...

some people suggest that Vermeer's young model is posing as CLIO ...

... but there are other interpretations ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Painting

EUTERPE … Muse of Flutes and Music

https://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/MousaEuterpe.html

Euterpe by Simon Vouet

https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2014/the-courts-of-europe-n09107/lot.113.html

Euterpe, by Goltzius

http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.438362

Euterpe, Albertina Museum ... can’t find it described on their website

Sculptor Joseph Klieber, part of a set of Apollo and the Nine Muses

Carved in Sandstone with a mock-marble finish

THALIA

https://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/MousaThaleia.html

Thalia, probably Italian, Anglesey Abbey

https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/thalia-the-muse-of-comedy-and-pastoral-poetry-170258

Emma Hamilton as Thalia

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/817160

Thalia, Meissen, c.1745

https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5440169

hoppner, dorothea jordan as the comic muse

MELPOMENE

https://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/MousaMelpomene.html

Melpomene, Wall plaque found in Petra

https://universes.art/en/art-destinations/jordan/amman/museums/jordan-museum/nabataean-hall/melpomene

Melpomene Muse of Tragedy, Elisabeta Sirani, before 1625

Melpomene, Thorvaldsen, 1836

TERPSICHORE

https://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/MousaTerpsikhore.html

TERPSICHORE,  Muse of Lyric Poetry and Dancing

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1968.212

Francesco Bartolozzi

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/381819?ft=Terpsichore&offset=0&rpp=40&pos=2

Terpsichore, Anglesey Abbey

ERATO

https://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/MousaErato.html

Erato, Clock by Claude Galle, France, late 18^th Century

https://www.proantic.com/en/display.php?id=641106

Erato, Charles Meynier, about 1800

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2003.6.2

Erato, Lord Leighton

https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2021/master-paintings-sculpture-part-i/erato

The Muse of Poetry, Sir Edward Poynter

POLYHYMNIA

https://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/MousaPolyhymnia.html

Polyhymnia by Simon Vouet, around 1645

https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010059598

Polyhymnia

https://www.rct.uk/collection/search#/1/collection/41046/polyhymnia-daughter-of-zeus

Polyhymnia, Meissen, late 19^th Century,

https://www.freemansauction.com/auction/lot/603-impressive-group-of-meissen-porcelain-figures-of-muses/?lot=428110&sd=1

URANIA

https://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/MousaOurania.html

Urania, amongst others

Bernard Picart, 1730

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1956-0725-83

Urania,

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/196531?searchField=All&sortBy=Relevance&ft=Urania&offset=0&rpp=20&pos=13

Urania, a volume of poems, 1950, with a cover by the exquisite woodcarver Joan Hassall

Urania, Raphael mosaic, Vatican

THE MUSES IN CROWD SCENES

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/image/823355001

https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010066788

HISTORY: Presumably the painting seen by [André] Félibien in Rome in 1647. Possibly, anonymous sale, Banqueting House, Whitehall, London, 1684. Spanish Royal Collection by 1746. 

"The Parnassus is a free variant of Raphael's fresco in the Vatican [directly below], with a not very skillful attempt to fill the gap – due in Raphael's composition to the window – by the insertion of the nymph of the Castalian spring, an awkward figure reminiscent of the School of Fontainebleau in its proportions.  In certain respects Poussin has followed Marcantonio's engraving [also below] more closely than the painting.  The putti, for instance, which occur in the engraving and in Poussin's painting, are not to be seen in the fresco.  Erwin Panofsky believes that [Poussin's] painting is a tribute to [Poussin's early patron, the then-famous poet Giovanni Battista] Marino, and nothing would be more likely than that Poussin should have painted such a subject soon after the poet's death in 1625."

Engraved by ??? Morgen after Anton Mengs

painted by Heinrich Maria von Hess, 1826

Engraved by Christophe Guerin after Giulio Romano

copied by baldassare peruzzi from giulio romano

tintoretto, 1578

a sevres lash-up in the royal collection

Kerel van Mander, late 1500s

albert decaris, mid 1900s

... to be continued ...

three talks on the history of painting with oils ... van eyck, titian, etc ... essential lessons beautifully communicated ...

(231) Oil Painting Processes of the Masters (Part 1 of 3) - YouTube

Jan van Eyck - Wikipedia

(231) Oil Painting Processes of the Masters (Part 2 of 3) - YouTube

(231) Oil Painting Processes of the Masters (Part 3 of 3) - YouTube

... to be continued ...

Erotes ... a long and complicated ancestry by the look of things ... originating in Greece, they became popular amongst the Romans ... their identities have become mixed and have evolved over the centuries, but the erotes are still conspicuous in the iconography of western art and culture ... making a clear visual or working distinction so each might be easily identified seems to be impossible ...

From Wikipedia ...

In Ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Erotes (/əˈroʊtiːz/) are a collective of winged gods associated with love and sexual intercourse. 

They are part of Aphrodite's retinue. 

Erotes (Greek ἔρωτες) is the plural of Eros ("Love, Desire"), who as a singular deity has a more complex mythology.

Other named Erotes are 

Anteros ("Love Returned"),^[1] 

Hedylogos ("Sweet-talk"), 

Hermaphroditus ("Hermaphrodite" or "Effeminate"), 

Himeros ("Impetuous Love" or "Pressing Desire"), 

Hymenaios ("Bridal-Hymn"), and 

Pothos ("Desire, Longing", especially for one who is absent)

Phanes 

https://religion.fandom.com/wiki/Erotes_(mythology)

Erotes - Wikipedia

EROTES - Greek Gods of Love & Desire (Roman Cupids) (theoi.com)

One of Eight Erotes Gods in Greek Mythology (ancient-literature.com)

so, let's go through the list of ancient Greek Erotes in alphabetical order ...

EROS

ANTEROS

Anteros - Wikipedia

ANTEROS - Greek God of Requited Love & Love Avenged (theoi.com)

Pausanias, Description of Greece 6. 23. 5 :
"In one of the wrestling-schools [in the town of Elis] is a relief showing Eros (Love) and Anteros (Love Returned), as he is called. Eros holds a palm-branch, and Anteros is trying to take the palm from him."

HEDYLOGOS

Hedylogos - Wikipedia

HEDYLOGOS - Greek God of Sweet-Talk (theoi.com)

Pothos and Hedylogos drawing ???'s chariot

Detail of Aphrodite driving a chariot drawn by a pair of Erotes (winged love-gods) in a scene depicting the love of Phaon and Demonassa. One of the Erotes holds a wreath of myrtle leaves and a plate (phiale), and the other an incense burner. The two are probably Eros (Love) and Himeros (Desire). Other figures in this scene (not shown) are Hygeia, Eudaimonia, Leura, Chrysope, Herosora, Panychis, Apollo, Leto, Phaon and Demonassa.

HERMAPHRODITUS

Hermaphroditus - Wikipedia

HERMAPHRODITUS (Hermaphroditos) - Greek God of Hermaphrodites & Effeminates (theoi.com)

Ovid, Metamorphoses 4. 28 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"Hear how the magic pool of Salmacis found its ill fame, and why its strengthless waters soften and enervate the limbs they touch. All know its famous power but few the cause. To Mercurius (Mercury) [Hermes], runs the tale, and Cythereia [Venus-Aphrodite] a boy [Hermaphroditos] was born whom in Mount Ida's caves the Naides nurtured; in his face he showed father and mother and took his name from both. When thrice five years had passed, the youth forsook Ida, his fostering home, his mountain haunts, eager to roam strange lands afar, to see strange rivers, hardships softened by delight. The towns of Lycia he reached at last and Carae's marching provinces; and there he saw a pool, a limpid shining pool, clear to its very bottom; no marsh reed, no barren sedge grew there, no spiky rush; the water crystal clear, its margin ringed with living tuft and verdure always green. A Nympha dwelt there, not one to bend the bow or join the hunt or run to win the race; she was the only of the Naides unknown to swift Diana [Artemis]. Many a time her sisters chide her: ‘Come, Salmacis, get out your spear or painted quiver; vary your hours of ease with hardships of the chase.’
Yet never spear she took nor painted quiver, nor would vary her hours of ease with hardships of the chase; but in her pool would bathe her lovely limbs, and with a comb of boxwood dress her hair, and, gazing long, take counsel of the waters what style were best. Now on the soft green grass or on soft leaves in gauzy dress she lay; now gathered flowers--and, gathering, chanced to see the boy and seeing, saw her heart's desire, Yet though her heart would haste she paused awhile till, dress inspected, all in order placed, charm in her eyes set shining, she deserved to look so lovely, then began to speak: ‘Fair boy you seem--how worthily you seem!--a god, and, if a god, Cupido (Love) [Eros] himself, or if a mortal, happy pair are they who gave you birth; blest is your brother, blest indeed is your sister, if you have one, and the nurse who suckled you, but far, of far, more blest she, your betrothed, found worthy of your love! If there is one, let stolen joy be mine; if none, let me be her, make me your bride!’
This said, she held her peace. A rosy blush dyed the boy's cheeks; he knew not what love was; but blushes well became him; like the bloom of rosy apples hanging in the sun, or painted ivory, or when the moon glows red beneath her pallor and the gongs resound in vain to rescue her eclipse. Then the Nympha pleaded, begged, besought at least a sister's kiss, and made to throw her arms around his ivory neck. ‘Enough!’ he cried ‘Have done! Or I shall quit this place--and you.’
Fear struck her heart; ‘I yield the place,’ she said, ‘Stranger, to you’ and turned away as if to leave him, then, with many a backward glance, she vanished in the leafy undergrowth and crouched in hiding there. The boy, alone (he thought) on the empty sward unobserved, strolled to and fro and in the rippling water dipped first his toes, then ankle deep, and soon, charmed by the soothing coolness of the pool, stripped his light garments from his slender limbs. Then Salmacis gazed spellbound, and desire flamed for his naked beauty and her eyes blazes bright as when the sun's unclouded orb shines dazzling in a mirror. She scarce could bare to wait, hardly postpone her joy, she longed to embrace him, scarce contained her frenzied heart. He clapped his hollow palms against his sides and dived into the pool and, as he swam arm over arm, gleamed in the limpid water like, in a guarding dome of crystal glass, white lilies or a figure of ivory. ‘I've won, he's mine!’ she cried, and flung aside her clothes and plunged far out into the pool and grappled him and, as he struggled, forced her kisses, willy-nilly fondled him, caressed him; now on one side, now the other clung to him as he fought to escape her hold; and so at last entwined him, like a snake seized by the king of birds and borne aloft, which, as it hangs, coils round his head and claws and with its tail entwines his spreading wings; or ivy wrapping round tall forest trees; or, in the sea, a squid whose whipping arm seize and from every side surround their prey.
Atlantiades [Hermaphroditos] fought back, denied the Nympha her joy; she strained the more; her clinging body seemed fixed fast to his. ‘Fool, fight me as you will,’ she cried, ‘You'll not escape! Ye Gods ordain no day shall ever dawn to part us twain!’ Her prayer found gods to hear; both bodies merged in one, both blended in one form and face. As when a gardener sets a graft and sees growth seal the join and both mature together, thus, when in the fast embrace their limbs were knit, they two were two no more, nor man, nor woman--one body then that neither seemed and both.
So when he saw the waters of the pool, where he had dived a man, had rendered him half woman and his limbs now weak and soft, raising his hands, Hermaphroditus cried, his voice unmanned, ‘Dear father [Hermes] and dear mother [Aphrodite], both of whose names I bear, grant me, your child, that whoso in these waters bathes a man emerge half woman, weakened instantly.’
Both parents hears; both, moved to gratify their bi-sexed son, his purpose to ensure, drugged the bright water with that power impure."

also ... there is tiresias ... who changed gender ... twice ?

https://kosmossociety.chs.harvard.edu/androgyne-in-myth/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiresias

HIMEROS

at this point, my search for a clear distinction between the different erotes got completely lost in the woods ...

it hadn't occurred to me that modern gay culture has it's own re-inventions of mythical deities and their fellow beings ...  Himeros has become a brand name and part of the typology of sexual play objects

so when i started doing an image search for Himeros, there were surprises ...

https://theaccessorycircle.com/products/himeros-zeus-intimate-c-ring

HIMEROS ... continued ...

HIMEROS - Greek God of Sexual Desire (theoi.com)

Hesiod, Theogony 53 ff :
"A little way from the topmost peak of snowy Olympos, there are their [the Mousai's (Muses')] bright dancing-places and beautiful homes, and beside them the Kharites (Charites, Graces) and Himeros (Desire) live in delight."

https://ancient-literature.com/himeros/

william blake richmond, aphrodite between eros and himeros

HYMENAIOS

HYMENAEUS (Hymenaios) - Greek God of Weddings & the Bridal Hymn (theoi.com)

Euripides, Trojan Women 310 ff (trans. Vellacott) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) :
"Kassandra (Cassandra) [lamenting the fall of Troy and the enslavement of the Trojan Women] : Raise the torch and fling the flame! Flood the walls with holy light! Worship the Almighty Hymen (Hymenaeus), God of Marriage! Agamemnon, master of my maiden flesh, King of Argos, take me! Heaven's blessing falls on me and falls on you. Hear our cry of worship, Hymen, God of Marriage! Mother [Hekabe, Hecuba], since you crouch and cry weak with tears and loud with grief for my dear dead city and my murdered father, I have brought them--torches for my wedding-night, leaping light and dancing flame, in your honour, Hymen, God of hot desire! Queen of Darkness, send the gleam you love to lend to the ritual blessing of the wedded virgin! Dancers, come! Loose your leaping feet, wild with wine of ecstasy! Glorify my father's happy fate! God Apollon, lead this holy ritual dance! In your temple-court, under your immortal laurel-tree, I your priestess call on you! Hymen, mighty god, Hymen, hear! Come and dance, mother, dance with me; charm the Powers with lucky words, loudly chant your daughter's wedding-song! Wildly whirl and turn in purest ecstasy! Maids of Troy, wear your brightest gowns : come, and sing my wedding-song, hail the lover Eros (Love) and Fate appoint for me!"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hymen_%28god%29

POTHOS

POTHOS - Greek God of Sexual Longing (theoi.com)

... seems to represent longing or yearning as an emotion rather than a passion, perhaps ...

  

  

PHANES

https://www.theoi.com/Protogenos/Phanes.html

Phanes was described as a beautiful, golden-winged, hermaphroditic deity wrapped in the coils of a serpent. His name means "bring to light" or "make appear" from the Greek verbs phanaô and phainô.

  

greek mirror ... two erotes hovering above the figure of aphrodite

https://art.thewalters.org/detail/17020/caryatid-mirror-with-aphrodite/

... to be continued ...

Number Four, Raymond Terrace, Treforest, Glamorganshire, Wales

My mother's mother and my mother's step-father lived here.  I've made a yellow dot where I think the little house still stands.  The map is an ancient Ordnance Survey.

Raymond Terrace perched along the edge of a ridge looking down on the River Taff, which in the 1950s still flowed black or very dark grey with coal dust which was carried as a heavy sediment towards Cardiff.

Behind the house, and across the valley beyond the river, ran railways that carried coal night and day. 

To the north, high above Pontypridd we would gaze towards Doctor Price's sham castle which stood above the chain foundry where the workers subscribed to his upkeep. 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Price_(physician)

I would wake in the night and hear the clinking of coal wagons being shunted in a yard close by to the west.  And in the background was another sound, the endless roar of the river tumbling over the weir.

Treforest Tinplate Works Feeder Sluice and Weir, Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taff (britishlistedbuildings.co.uk)

Treforest was a foreign country for me, coming from a small rural town where most people had country accents to visit the smokey valleys where voices were louder and sentences intoned quite musically.

My sister Sally and I stayed here just before my second sister V was born.  And we had a playful cousin here, Diane, who was cared for by our grandparents until her mum, one of thousands of G.I. brides I guess, was able to re-possess her in 1957.  I can vividly remember returning to Malmesbury and being introduced to the newborn V in the tiny sitting room at 35 Horsefair in Malmesbury.

There is a picture of myself with Diane playing in Malmesbury Abbey churchyard ... maybe 1950, possibly 1951 ...

A little to the north of Raymond Terrace, John Street was the terminating point of a trolley bus that ran from Treforest to Pontypridd and Cilfynydd.  I took it for granted, not realizing that such a service was a rarity.

New book looks at Pontypridd's trolleybus system, which operated from 1930 to 1957 - Wales Online

... to be continued ... possibly, maybe ...