Apollo and the Muses, by Thomas Matthews Rooke, RWS (1842-1942). 1889. Oil on canvas, tondo. 20 ½ x 20 ½ inches (52 x 52 cm). Private collection, ©2013 Christie's Images Limited. Reproduced by kind permission (not to be downloaded; right click disabled).
Rooke exhibited this painting at the Royal Academy in 1889, no. 627. Its original frame, no doubt designed by Rooke, is inscribed in relief with the names of the nine Muses portrayed: "Her royalties Polymnia lays down/ Dance on Terpsichore/ Urania sees the stars go round/ Wandering sings Calliope/ The pipes Euterpe culls from off the ground/ Thalia mocks Melpomene/ Who arms herself for play/ With weapons of divinity/ Erato's lyre Apollo sounds/ Clio knows all man's strange history." Inscribed by the artist on the wooden backing of the frame is "no II/Parnassus [crossed out] Apollo and the Muses." This inscription on the back suggests that Rooke had second thoughts about the title. Parnassus, a mountain in Greece, was the home of Apollo and the Muses — the nine Greek goddesses who inspired literature, science and the arts, such as poetry, music and dance. Each of the Muses had her own distinct specialty. The picture features Apollo in the centre with his lyre, surrounded by these nine Muses, all in a classical setting.
Rooke's mentor Edward Burne-Jones had previously treated the theme of Parnassus in a small painting of 1871, entitled A Dream of the Nine Muses (Dream of Parnassus), now in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. Burne-Jones's influence can also be seen in the technique Rooke employed in this painting of glazing colours over a well-established underpainting. Rooke treats his subject in the tondo form beloved of the Old Masters. John Christian, in particular, sees the influence of two Old Master painters that Rooke especially admired – Mantegna and Raphael (120).
Despite being surely one of Rooke's most beautiful and important paintings, it was seemingly ignored by the critics when it was shown at the Royal Academy.
Bibliography
Christian, John. Fine Victorian Pictures. London; Christie's (15 June 1990): lot 133,120-21.
Victorian and British Impressionist Art. London: Christie's (14 November 2013): lot 35. https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5732430
Created 18 January 2026