In the context of this artwork, analyze the Classical references of the Description.
The subject was perhaps an allegory of poetry and music; the two women could be an imaginary apparition representing ideal beauty, stemming from the two men's fantasy and inspiration. The woman with the glass vase would be the muse of tragic poetry, while the other would be pastoral poetry. Of the two playing men, the one with the lute would represent the exalted lyric poetry, the other being an ordinary lyricist, according to Aristotle's distinction in his Poetics. Another interpretation suggests that the painting evokes the natural world's four elements (water, fire, earth, and air) and their harmonic relationship.
Another theory is that this painting's subject is an allegorical interpretation of Theocritus's poem about Daphnis, a shepherd thought to be the pastoral poetry founder. Philipp Fehl references this poem in his theory on the identity of the women in the paintings. Theocritus describes Arcadia as the land that the Greek god Pan originates. Arcadia was imagined as a "paradise" by Jacopo Sannazaro in his 15th-century pastoral poem Arcadia, popular around Venice and the surrounding city-states. It is suggested that the nymphs create Arcadia around them, making Arcadia a spiritual state of existence that one establishes.  Philipp Fehl also proposes that this painting symbolizes Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, an extremely popular epic poem in the early 16th century. One of Ariosto's most famous patrons was Ippolito d'Este and his older sister, Isabella d'Este, the possible patron of this painting.Julia Marianne Koos's theory suggests that the painting is an allegory for the discourse of love. In the Italian Renaissance, it was believed that nature was a "mirror of the lover's soul and an idyllic place of refuge".  This specific painting's allegory on love's discourse was believed to be originating from Pietro Bembo's poetic musing on desire, such as his poem The Asolani. The concept of "desire" depicted in art was a heated debate in the 16th century, as seen in writings such as  Leonardo da Vinci's Trattato della pittura.Art Historian Ross Kilpatrick suggests that two ancient literature texts, Horace's Epistles and Propertius's Elegy, were the significant pieces of inspiration behind this painting.
Renaissance Isabella d'Este Arcadia Venice Leonardo da Vinci Ippolito d'Este Horace Orlando Furioso Pan Jacopo Sannazaro Pietro Bembo Trattato della pittura Propertius Daphnis Ludovico Ariosto Epistles Theocritus