Public data from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Learn more
About the Artwork
Polyhymnia is one of the nine muses in Greek mythology and a patron of dancing or geometry. She is portrayed here standing in front of a bust of the Athenian orator Demosthenes. This painting belongs to a cycle of five works commissioned by businessman François Boyer-Fonfréde for his home in Toulouse.
Provenance
In 1819, Nicolas-Antoine de Castella, general of the Swiss regiments in France, purchased the paintings and placed them in his Castle of Wallenreid, Switzerland; direct descendants; Pierre de Castella, Mannaz, Switzerland.
Exhibition history
ArtLens Reimagined: The Intersection of Art, Technology, and Innovation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 23, 2026-September 1, 2031).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Charles Meynier (French, 1768–1832)
- Date
- 1800
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- Overall: 275 x 177 cm (108 1/4 x 69 11/16 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- Modern European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund
- Accession no.
- 2003.6.1
More by Charles Meynier in museum collections
Apollo, God of Light, Eloquence, Poetry, and the Fine Arts with Urania, Muse of Astronomy
Charles Meynier1798 · Painting
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00009497
Powered by Art Trackers