Melpomene, Erato and Polyhymnia

Dated 1652 and held in the Louvre, this panel depicting three of the nine Muses — Melpomene (tragedy), Erato (lyric poetry), and Polyhymnia (sacred music) — belongs to the celebrated series of Muse paintings that Le Sueur created for the Cabinet des Muses at the Hôtel Lambert. These panels, painted between 1647 and 1653, represent the highest achievement of his secular decorative work and among the finest examples of French classical painting of the seventeenth century. Each Muse is individually characterised by her attributes and by a specific quality of expression and bearing — Melpomene with her tragic mask, Erato with her lyre, Polyhymnia in contemplative pose. Le Sueur's Muses have a refinement and spiritual gravity that distinguishes them from the more sensual treatments of the subject in Italian Baroque painting; they are not goddesses of pleasure but of concentrated, reverential devotion to their respective arts.

On panel, the composition arranges the three Muses in a grouped but individuated arrangement, each figure given sufficient space to communicate her specific character. Le Sueur's colour in these panels achieves a particularly fine pearlescent quality — flesh tones modulated through pale warm lights and cool half-tones, draperies in refined primary and secondary colours. His drawing of hands is exemplary in this series, each gesture communicating the Muse's relationship to her art.