Tag: Melpomene

Paintings of Melpomene, Ancient Greek muse of tragedy, or portraits of ladies painted looking like her, when looking like Melpomene was all the rage. Various sources and artists.

The Muse Melpomene (the nine muses). 1771. German. Oil on canvas. Johann Heinrich Tischbein, painter (1722-1789). Currently located in the Neue Galerie, Hessen Kassel Heritage. In the public domain in the United States because the artist died over 100 years ago. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Johann_Heinrich_Tischbein_-_The_Nine_Muses_-_Melpomene_(Tragedy),_1771FXD.jpg
View of a lunette depicting Melpomene, the Muse of Tragedy, the lunette being located in the Northwest Corridor of the Thomas Jefferson Building at the Library of Congress in Washington, District of Columbia.  The woman, Melpomene, wears a cloak and has her arms extended towards two putti on either corner of the painting. One of the boys holds a vine wreath, the other holds a bowl with the fire of inspiration. A mask of Tragedy leans against Melpomene’s leg, and her foot rests on a palm leaf. A sign painted above her head reads: “Melpomene.” The ceiling is decorated in plaster carved in relief. ca. 1901. American. Edward Simmons, artist (1852-1931). Photomechanical polychrome print, © 1901 by the Detroit Photographic Company. Collections of the Library of Congress. In the public domain due to age. https://www.loc.gov/item/2008679550/ though I found it here as the same postcard is in the collections of the Denver Art Museum. https://digital.denverlibrary.org/nodes/view/1130773
Melpomene: Mrs. Siddons stands on the stage, her head turned in profile to the left, her left hand outstretched to take a heavy purse which hangs on a pitchfork emerging from clouds. English. Aquatint. Published on December 6, 1784 by J. Ridgeway, Number 196 Piccadilly, London. Collections of the Library of Congress. In the public domain due to age. https://www.loc.gov/item/2006688191/
Portrait of Geneviève-Françoise Randon de Malboissière (1746-1766), as Melpomene, Muse of Tragedy. 1765-1766. French. Oil on canvas. Louis-Michel van Loo, painter (1707-1771). Horvitz Collection. Artwork itself in the public domain because the artist died over 100 years ago. via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Genevieve_de_Malboissiere_as_Melpomene,_Muse_Of_Tragedy_by_Louis-Michel_van_Loo.jpg though I found it here https://substack.com/@mmeguillotine/note/c-131919235