The Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA) houses an ink drawing titled Pegasus, Inventory No. 3265/8, by Alfred Ost (1884-1945), a Belgian artist known for his distinctive graphic style and particular interest in animal subjects.

This drawing depicts the mythical winged horse from Greek mythology, a creature with a rich symbolic history spanning thousands of years of cultural development. In classical mythology, Pegasus emerged from the blood of the Gorgon Medusa after she was beheaded by the hero Perseus. The winged horse has most famously been associated with the hero Bellerophon, who captured and rode Pegasus in his quest to defeat the monstrous Chimera.

Beyond heroic narratives, Pegasus is traditionally linked to poetic inspiration. According to myth, he created the spring Hippocrene on Mount Helicon with a strike of his hoof, establishing a fountain that granted poetic inspiration to those who drank from it. This association led to Pegasus becoming a symbol of artistic inspiration and the transcendent power of imagination across Western cultural tradition.

Ost's rendering likely captures the dynamic essence of this mythical creature, emphasising its elegance and power through the expressive potential of the ink medium. The artist's known affinity for portraying animals with sympathy and insight would have informed his approach to this mythological subject.

The drawing represents the continued resonance of classical mythological figures in modern artistic practice, demonstrating how ancient symbolic creatures maintain their power to inspire creative interpretation across changing artistic movements and periods.