Dancing Muse

The subject shown here is identical both in terms of size and detail with the figure portrayed in a work entitled The Parnassus, where she can be recognized on the outside right of the group of muses shown performing a round dance. The latter work was completed in 1497 by Andrea Mantegna, having been commissioned for the Studiolo of Isabella d’Este at the ducal palace in Mantua. Although the work’s counterpart in Berlin is in a somewhat fragmentary condition (when the various additions and retouches are taken into consideration), it nevertheless retains a considerable number of features consistent with the original quality of the drawing. In contrast to other drawings debatably attributed to Mantegna, the heightening in white in this work is not characterized by dense and painstaking sketching, but rather by lightness of touch and restraint. An even more striking feature is the subtle distinctions in the modelling of light and shade, which here are not unfeelingly situated in direct juxtaposition with one another, but are instead gradated to create a seamless chiaroscuro of utmost subtlety in both the clothing and the naked areas of body. The unpretentiousness of this approach, which dispenses with displays of flashy virtuosity, is a clear signature of Mantegna’s hand.