Minerva with the Muses on Mount Helicon, a Feast of the Gods in the background

The composition is very similar to that of Minerva with the Muses by Hans Rottenhammer in the Weserrenaissance-Museum Schloß Brake, Lemgo. However, there are also distinct differences, such as the placement of Minerva and the figures accompanying the muses and in the number of figures to the left and right. The composition probably dates from the latter part of Rottenhammer's Venetian period, to circa 1596-1606.
Although the muses are more frequently shown with Apollo on Parnassus, the subject of Minerva visiting the Muses on Mount Helicon (Ovid, Metamorphoses, 5:250-268) was also popular with Northern artists in the latter part of the 16th and 17th centuries.