The Muse Clio

Clio was the muse the ancients set over history, the keeper of the record of what people had done. Painters gave her two things to hold, a book for the deeds she wrote down, and a trumpet, because a great name also has to be sounded and carried down the years. Schalcken painted her around 1700, and the picture goes by a second, older title as well, an Allegory of Fame. His Clio looks less like a remote goddess than like the young Dutch women he painted throughout his life, handed a trumpet and asked to stand for something larger. The book is the history in her. The trumpet is what also makes her stand for fame.