The Goddess of the Arts
(c. 1775)
Medium
enamel, copper
Measurements
31.9 × 27.0 × 0.8 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased from Admission Funds, 1995
Gallery location
Not on display
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
London, England
Inscription
painted in brown l.r.: W. H Craft.
Accession Number
1995.758
Department
International Decorative Arts
Physical description
The large plaque shows a personification of the Arts as a woman seated in an architectural setting adorned by large vases. A putto leaning on her lap seems to draw her attention to Nature depicted as a statue of Diana of Ephesus, and, in the sky, an hourglass and a serpent biting its tail, symbols of Time and Eternity. Numerous trophies alluding to the Arts lie in the foreground, while the principal figure, draped in vivid colours, leans upon a painting wherein two putti enact Pliny's story of the discovery of painting by tracing the shadow thrown by an antique lamp.