Edwin Blashfield was born in New York City and began his artistic education in Paris in 1867. His interest in European mythology resulted in many commissions and he ultimately became a leading American muralist. His murals adorn state capitols, churches, banks, libraries and government buildings. He is especially known for painting the cupola and dome collar for the main reading room of the Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress. Blashfield’s mythological interest is evident in this portrait of an imaginary Greek musician. The subject is strumming a psaltery, an instrument that dates from about the 3rd century BC. Psalteries were popular in Europe until the 1500s but fell from favor at the beginning of the Renaissance.
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