# Minerva and the Nine Muses

[View the canonical artwork record](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/balen-hendrick-van-r43d19f3bc271f4/minerva-and-the-nine-muses-rfbdb62392e9bd7>)

## Artwork

- Artist: [BALEN, Hendrick van](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/balen-hendrick-van-r43d19f3bc271f4>)
- Date: 1601-1650
- Technique: Oil on panel, 78 x 108 cm

## Commentary

Ovid describes \(Met. 5:250-268\) how Minerva visited the Muses on Mt helicon, their home, to listen to their song and story and to see the sacred spring, the Hippocrene, which flowed from a rock after it had been struck by the hoof of the winged horse, Pegasus. The scene is a wooded mountain-side where the company of Muses are playing their instruments. Minerva is just arriving. Pegasus is seen in the background leaping from a high rock from which water gushes. The association of Minerva and the Muses was in line with the tradition that made her patroness of the arts.

## Related artworks

- [Allegory of Abundance](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/balen-hendrick-van-r43d19f3bc271f4/allegory-of-abundance-r2514f69974e8ad>)
- [Bacchus and Diana](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/balen-hendrick-van-r43d19f3bc271f4/bacchus-and-diana-r3fa3f667399c11>)
- [Banquet of Achelous](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/balen-hendrick-van-r43d19f3bc271f4/banquet-of-achelous-r3d3f583cfc2355>)
- [Diana Resting after the Hunt](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/balen-hendrick-van-r43d19f3bc271f4/diana-resting-after-the-hunt-r7956c42da269e0>)
- [Diana Resting after the Hunt](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/balen-hendrick-van-r43d19f3bc271f4/diana-resting-after-the-hunt-r85dcb0fd856e0c>)
- [Diana Turns Actaeon into a Stag](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/balen-hendrick-van-r43d19f3bc271f4/diana-turns-actaeon-into-a-stag-rb3207df02666cf>)
- [Feast of the Gods](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/balen-hendrick-van-r43d19f3bc271f4/feast-of-the-gods-r743e901cef60be>)
- [Herse and her Sisters with Mercury](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/balen-hendrick-van-r43d19f3bc271f4/herse-and-her-sisters-with-mercury-rbecc3a6038602d>)
- [Holy Trinity](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/balen-hendrick-van-r43d19f3bc271f4/holy-trinity-r35a356ee516814>)
- [Odysseus as a Guest of the Nymph Calypso](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/balen-hendrick-van-r43d19f3bc271f4/odysseus-as-a-guest-of-the-nymph-calypso-r41d22a5e6407d4>)
- [The Feast of Achelous](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/balen-hendrick-van-r43d19f3bc271f4/the-feast-of-achelous-r36ee03268a8dd1>)
- [The Judgment of Paris](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/balen-hendrick-van-r43d19f3bc271f4/the-judgment-of-paris-r8d15fb66dda8c8>)

## Attribution

[Web Gallery of Art](<https://beta.wga.hu/pages/about>)