Western canon
（重定向自Dead White European Male）
![Dante, Homer and Virgil in Raphael's Parnassus fresco (1511), key figures in the Western canon](/Images/godic/202501/08/Parnaso_090023.jpg")
![In painting, the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1503–1506, is the archetypal masterpiece, though it was not produced for admission to a guild or academy.](/Images/godic/202501/08/Mona_Lisa,_by_Leonardo_da_Vinci,_from_C2RMF_retouched0023.jpg")
![Clara Schumann, (1819 – 1896), was a German musician and composer, considered one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era.[14]](/Images/godic/202501/08/Clara_Schumann_18780023.jpg")
![The Capitoline Venus (Capitoline Museums), an Antonine copy of a late Hellenistic sculpture that ultimately derives from Praxiteles](/Images/godic/202501/08/Capitoline_Venus_Musei_Capitolini_MC04090023.jpg")
The Western canon is the body of books, music and art that scholars generally accept as the most important and influential in shaping Western culture. It includes work of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama, music, art and sculpture generally perceived as being of major artistic merit and representing the high culture of Europe.