William Shakespeare wrote famously, “If music be the food of love, play on.” That same sentiment could be applied to music as fuel and inspiration for fine art.
Music has been a muse for artists from antiquity through subsequent centuries, with musicians and singers depicted as raconteurs, divinities, and in myths. Examining a selection of historical artworks through a lens of music affords a unique understanding and appreciation of music and artistic periods.
The Cycladic Harpist
Marble seated harp player, 2800–2700 B.C., Cycladic. Marble. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. (Public Domain)
The Cycladic artwork “Marble seated harp player” is from the third millennium B.C. It is purported to have been found on the present-day Greek island of Naxos, which is historically renowned for the quality of its marble. This sculpture is one of the earliest known representations of a musician. Originally, the marble artwork was painted with embellishments. Scientific analysis has revealed that marble sculptures of the Cycladic period were typically painted with mineral-based pigments, such as cinnabar (red) and azurite (blue)….