Alabaster Sculpture “muse”

An important alabaster sculpture depicting Erato, muse of music and lyric poetry, portrayed as a young woman draped in classical style, holding a metal lyre. The work is signed A. Ludinas, a sculptor active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, renowned for his allegorical female figures inspired by Neoclassicism. The quality of the modeling, the delicacy of the drapery, and the gentle expression of the face attest to a high level of academic skill, characteristic of decorative art produced during the Belle Époque. The finely polished alabaster offers a beautiful translucency and a homogeneous natural patina. The metal lyre is the muse's primary iconographic attribute and reinforces the symbolic interpretation of the work. This sculpture belongs to the tradition of artistic allegories inspired by Antiquity, which were highly prized in the bourgeois interiors of the late 19th century.