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Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original fileFour figures are gathered in a laurel grove in this engraving based on Raphael's 'Parnassus' fresco. The central figure, Homer, looks upward with sightless eyes and an open mouth as if singing, while the later poets Virgil and Dante listen intently; a youth sits at their feet, recording the verses onto a tablet.
This composition illustrates the Renaissance Neoplatonic concept of 'furor poeticus' (divine poetic madness), where the poet serves as a vessel for divine truth. It represents the 'Chain of Poets,' a lineage of inspired wisdom that connects the classical world of Homer and Virgil to the Christian era of Dante.
MBurg. sculp.
Translation
M[ichael] Burg[hers] engraved [this].
Marsilio Ficino
Ficino's theory of the four divine frenzies, particularly the 'poetic frenzy,' is visually personified by the inspired Homer.
Raphael
The image is a 17th-century engraving of a specific group from Raphael's 'Parnassus' fresco in the Vatican.
Object
Oil on panel
allegory
Digital Source
Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
Peace Palace Library
3046 × 5332 px
Linked Data
AI AI-cataloged fields generated by gemini-3-flash-preview on April 2, 2026. Getty identifiers are AI-inferred and may require verification.