Terpsichore 1779

Francesco Bartolozzi created this print of Terpsichore using crayon manner engraving, a technique that mimics the effect of chalk drawings. It’s interesting to consider this artwork within the context of 18th-century Neoclassicism, a period that looked back to ancient Greece and Rome for inspiration. Terpsichore, the Greek muse of dance and chorus, is depicted here with a distinct emphasis on idealized beauty and harmony. Yet this aesthetic sensibility was largely supported by the labor of enslaved people and the subjugation of women. How do we reconcile the celebration of liberty and democracy in ancient Greece with the brutal realities of race and gender in Bartolozzi’s time? Perhaps the seemingly innocent image of Terpsichore playing her lyre accompanied by a cherubic figure becomes more complex when viewed through the lens of history and power. The print is not merely an aesthetic object, but a cultural artifact embedded in a web of social relations. As you reflect on this image, consider how the legacies of the 18th century continue to shape our present.