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The Epic Poem

Jacob de Wit1743

Mauritshuis

Mauritshuis
Den Haag, Netherlands

This ceiling painting comes from a house in Leiden (Rapenburg 48) and has been hanging here since 1912. Apollo, the classical god of the arts, is depicted on the oval centrepiece. He is surrounded by his nine muses, who stand for the various artistic disciplines. The four grisailles around the centrepiece represent the elegy, the comedy, the pastoral song and the epos.

In the eighteenth century, the Amsterdam artist Jacob de Wit was the leading expert in this type of illusionist tour de force.

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  • Title: The Epic Poem
  • Creator: Wit, Jacob de
  • Date Created: 1743
  • Physical Dimensions: h270 cm x w398 cm
  • Provenance: Made (together with inv. nos. 731, 732, 734 and 735) for Rapenburg 48 in Leiden, the residence of Diederik van Leyden van Vlaardingen; purchased, 1910; installed in the ceiling of the Potter Room, 1912
  • Type: painting; oil
  • Medium: canvas
Mauritshuis

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