Sarah Siddons as the Tragic Muse paintings of Melpoméne, she is represented with a tragic mask and also often holds in her other hand a knife or club. In Greek mythology, she is the daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne, who had eight other daughters, Melpoméne's sisters and the eight other muses are: Calliope, muse of epic poetry; Clio, muse of history; Euterpe, muse of flute playing; Terpsichore, muse of dancing; Erato, muse of erotic poetry; Thalia muse of comedy; Polyhymnia, muse of hymns; and Urania, muse of astronomy. Reynolds was inspired not only by Sarah Siddons' extreme talent to embody the tragic heroine in Macbeth, but
The Barbican Muse The Barbican Muse The Barbican Muse is a sculpture of a woman, holding tragedy and comedy masks, by Matthew Spender, and was installed on a wall near the Silk Street entrance to the Barbican Centre in the City of London, England, in 1994. The long illuminated sculpture called "Muse" was cast in fibreglass and then gilded. It was commissioned, in 1993, by architect Theo Crosby to 'float, glow and point the way' to visitors arriving at the centre on the walkway from Moorgate Station. As part of the 1993–1994 refurbishment, Crosby also commissioned nine gilded fibreglass muses by British sculptor