books0977:Portraits in the Characters of the Muses in the Temple of Apollo (exh.1779). Richard Samue
books0977:Portraits in the Characters of the Muses in the Temple of Apollo (exh.1779). Richard Samuel (English, fl. 1770 -1786). Oil on canvas. National Portrait Gallery.Samuel celebrated nine of Britain’s artistic and intellectual women. He depicted them as Muses, ancient Greek goddesses who personified the arts and sciences. All except the literary critic and salon hostess Elizabeth Montagu earned a living from their work. The singer Elizabeth Ann Sheridan is in the centre, holding a lyre. The artist Angelica Kauffman sits at an easel. Other women include the historian Catharine Macaulay, the playwright and anti-slavery campaigner Hannah More and the classicist Elizabeth Carter. -- source link