The Muses of Music and Poetry

As Enlightenment tenets measured the civilization of a society by its treatment of women, the arts, and especially music, came to be understood in terms of feminine beauty. Women, while held to oppressive social standards, paradoxically also represented an aesthetic ideal. Notice in this sculpture that music, with a lyre under her arm, and poetry, with her fingers in the pages of a book, hold hands. Music and poetry were expected to perfectly complement one another, a goal exemplified by the careful singing lessons outlined in the Journal de la mode’s pages.