The Fall of Pyteneus

Louis Chéron, c. 1695

Oil on plaster, ceiling of the Second State Room

7.2 x 9.53 m

The subject, from Ovid's, Metamorphoses, book v, lines 270-96, as explained to Minerva on Mount Helicon, shows the nine Muses flying away from the tyrant Pyreneus. From left to right they represent Urania (astronomy) with a globe and crown of stars; Terpsichore with a lyre (dancing and song), Clio crowned with laurel (history), Thalia with her mask (comedy), Calliope with a trumpet (epic poetry), Melpomene (tragedy) with dagger and book flanked by Erato (love poetry) and Euterpe (lyric poetry) and Polyhymnia (heroic hymns) with flute and garlands of flowers. The ceiling has suffered from later repainting which gives the faces a curiously anachronistic feeling. There are no recorded surviving preparatory sketches by Chéron for this ceiling.

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