The fresco is anchored in the ceiling's southwest corner by elements of classical architecture that serve as an outdoor setting for a diverse gathering of people and animals. It is interesting to note, as an aside, that these figures are closely modeled on Long's assistants, friends, members of his family and family pets, as well as himself. That is Long seated on the stairs, holding a handful of paintbrushes and looking exhaused, as he no doubt was upon completing his ambitious commission. Nearby, a dark-suited man modeled after Sam Gray-writer, friend of the artist and director of the Mountain Gateway Museum in Old Fort, North Carolina-is surrounded by a cloud of smoke and flames signifying inspiration. On the opposite side of the group of mortals from the self-portrait and the portrait of Gray, Long has portrayed his teacher, Italian fresco master Pietro Annigoni, standing on the horizon with one arm upraised.

Presiding over this earthbound portion of the composition is a domed gazebo oriented diagonally so that it draws the eye toward the center of the ceiling and illusionistically upward, into the twilit, cloud-dappled heavens that dominate the fresco. While the two boldly stylized, empty-eyed masks appear to hover in the sky's middle distance and look downward on this gathering of mortals, the main celestial players are the Muses themselves-voluptuously beautiful, perennially youthful women who cavort among the clouds with their various signature instruments and attributes, in some cases gazing down on the scene below them as if directing their inspirational powers toward particular individuals in the terrestrial crowd.