Orpheus Charming the Animals (c. 1505): Art, History and Details

Orpheus Charming the Animals (c. 1505) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Marcantonio Raimondi (Italian, 1470/82–1527/34).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

In Greek mythology, Orpheus was a singer and poet. He was given a lyre by Apollo, the god of music, and was taught to play by the Muses. His songs, melodiously accompanied by his instrument, were so beautiful that they pacified wild animals, calmed the seas, and animated trees and rocks. Here, a subdued bear is depicted in close proximity to a dog, and stones have gathered at the musician’s feet. The instrument depicted here is a lira da braccio, an instrument played by Leonardo da Vinci at the time when this engraving was made.

Object facts

• Title: Orpheus Charming the Animals
• Date: c. 1505
• Creator attribution: Marcantonio Raimondi (Italian, 1470/82–1527/34)
• Culture: Italy
• Type: Print
• Technique: engraving
• Dimensions: Plate: 21.4 x 17.3 cm (8 7/16 x 6 13/16 in.)
• Collection: PR - Engraving
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1930.579

Collection credit

Dudley P. Allen Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
• Duffin, Ross W. "Leonardo's Lira: A music historian spots a depiction of the great Renaissance master--and musical virtuoso--in a museum engraving.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 55, no. 3 (May/June 2015): 10-12.
• Lexa, Olivier. Léonard de Vinci: l'Invention de l'Opéra. Paris : Les éditions du Cerf, 2019.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.