This engraving is one in a series of four (see also M.88.91.199a, b, d) that reproduces the decoration on the ceiling of the Gallery of Ulysses at Fontainebleau, the summer residence of Francis I of France (r. 1515−47), which was constructed and decorated by Italian artists in the mid-sixteenth century. Although the ornate gallery was destroyed in the eighteenth century, Ghisi’s prints help to re-create its original design by the artist Francesco Primaticcio. The chamber’s ceiling was divided into fifteen vaulted compartments, each containing a central image surrounded by multiple scenes; this series of engravings reproduces the decoration from the fourth vault, which featured at its center the goddess Venus and the three Fates. The composition’s unique form points to the shape of the ceiling panels. The series was likely produced during Ghisi’s French sojourn and was originally printed in Paris.
Erudite courtly viewers took pleasure in identifying literary references; attributes of each of the figures in this print help to determine who they are meant to represent. Here, the woman at right who plays a stringed instrument is almost certainly Erato, the muse of literature, sciences, and the arts, while the woman at center may be identified as Euterpe, the muse of lyric poetry, whose attribute is the double-flute. At left, the woman who raises her right arm upward at a dramatic angle is Terpsichore, the muse of dance and chorus, who plays a bowed lyre. A putto clashes two cymbals in the air above, uniting the figures in this engraving in a vivid depiction of sound and music.
