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Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original fileThis large tapestry depicts a gathering of literary figures in a lush, wooded landscape around the Castalian Spring. At the center, Apollo plays a lira da braccio, flanked by the Muses and a crowd of poets including Homer, Dante, Virgil, and Sappho. The composition is framed by an elaborate decorative border featuring architectural pillars and floral garlands.
Based on Raphael’s fresco in the Vatican's Stanza della Segnatura, this work illustrates the Neoplatonic concept of 'poetic madness' (furor poeticus). It represents the Renaissance ideal of the synthesis between classical myth and divine inspiration, positioning poetry as a sacred path to truth alongside theology and philosophy.
Marsilio Ficino
Ficino’s theory of the four divine manias, particularly the poetic fury inspired by the Muses, provides the philosophical framework for the scene's iconography.
Plato
The scene references the Ion and Phaedrus, where Plato discusses the necessity of divine inspiration for the creation of true poetry.
Object
Oil on panel
mythological
Digital Source
Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
Self-photographed
2816 × 2112 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.