Parnassus

Step into the world of ancient myth with Andrea Mantegna's "Parnassus," painted around 1497 for the studiolo of Isabella d'Este, one of the great art patrons of the Italian Renaissance. The scene unfolds on the legendary mountain home of the Muses. At the top, Venus, goddess of love, stands beside Mars, the god of war, the two lovers crowning the composition. Below them, nine graceful Muses dance in a flowing circle while Apollo plays his lyre off to the left. The figures move with a lightness that almost makes you hear the music.

There is a bit of mischief hidden in this painting too. Look to the upper left, where the god Vulcan, Venus's husband, glares out from his forge, clearly unhappy about his wife's affair with Mars. Mantegna was a master of crisp detail and sculptural figures, and his love of classical antiquity shows in every rocky arch and carefully posed body. Created in the precise, almost carved style that made him famous, the work was meant to delight a highly educated viewer who would enjoy spotting the clever references to poetry, love, and the arts.

The painting now hangs in the Louvre in Paris, part of a series Isabella commissioned to celebrate learning and culture. It rewards a slow look, as the longer you stay with it, the more small stories you begin to notice.