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Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original fileA woman in a flowing blue dress is shown resting on a rocky hillside next to a small, clear stream known as the Castalian spring. She holds an ornate, classical lyre and looks back over her shoulder, her posture suggesting a moment of attentive listening or inspiration. This figure is one of the nine Muses who surround the god Apollo in the larger composition.
The fresco program in the Stanza della Segnatura represents the Renaissance Neoplatonic synthesis of classical antiquity and Christian thought. Terpsichore and her sisters symbolize the 'divine frenzy' (furor divinus) described by Plato and Marsilio Ficino, which was believed to be the essential catalyst for poetic and intellectual achievement.
Marsilio Ficino
Ficino’s De amore and his letters on the 'four frenzies' provide the philosophical basis for the Muse's role in inspiring the human soul toward divine truth.
Plato
The concept of the Muses as sources of divine inspiration is rooted in Plato's Phaedrus and Ion, central texts for Renaissance humanists.
Object
Oil on panel
mythological
Digital Source
Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
The Yorck Project (2002) 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei (DVD-ROM), distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH. ISBN: 3936122202.
1000 × 1223 px
Linked Data
AI AI-cataloged fields generated by gemini-3-flash-preview on April 1, 2026. Getty identifiers are AI-inferred and may require verification.