Italian school; beginning of the XVIII century.

Italian school; early eighteenth century.
"Euterpe".
Oil on panel.
Measurements: 35 x 28 cm; 41,5 x 34 cm (frame).
In this 18th century Italian painting the author represents Euterpe, one of the nine muses of Greek mythology, traditionally associated with music, especially with the flute. The scene reflects the neoclassical ideal of serenity, balance and grace, so characteristic of eighteenth-century art in Italy, which took up the values of Greco-Roman classicism with a refined and decorative sensibility.Euterpe appears seated in a melancholic and contemplative posture. She wears flowing robes that fall in wide, harmonious folds, revealing the influence of ancient sculptural models. In the other hand she holds a flute, her most characteristic attribute. In the lower part of the painting, at her feet, a trumpet can be distinguished. Its presence reinforces the idea of Euterpe as the muse of all wind instruments.

Stylistically the piece is part of the neoclassicism that permeated the aesthetics of the second third of the eighteenth century.
Aesthetically it is worth mentioning that academicism is a direct inheritance of classicism, and hence the predilection for themes such as the one presented here, taken from mythology, although captured from a sensual and decorative point of view far from the solemnity of ancient classical art. Hence also the way of approaching the subject, recreating the mythological figures in a totally new way. Nevertheless, we can appreciate an ideal of beauty that is not based on reality, although the painter's study of nature is undeniable, but rather an idealism based on reality through his sum of experience, that is to say, an aesthetic sublimation that reflects a beauty that transcends reality.