Poetry is symbolised by a woman with a lyre. She is seated near the top of Mount Helicon, abode of the muses, goddesses of poetry. Pegasus rears on the peak, striking a rock with his hoof to create the Hippocrene spring, source of poetic inspiration. Three poets – possibly Homer, Horace and Ovid – approach the spring. For this allegory Goya used Cesare Ripa’s Iconologia, an emblem book from 1593 that was a standard reference for artists for centuries.