Saturday, November 29, 2014

Organ Shutters

Music

Poetry

Valor

Virtue

Alessandro Turchi (1578-1649) painted the fronts and backs of a pair of organ shutters in 1606 for the Accademia Filarmonica in Verona. According to art historians at the Royal Collection, Turchi's designs originated in emblematic engravings personifying arts and virtues, first published in Cesare Ripa's Iconologia of 1603. About 150 years later, the shutters were purchased and brought to England by an agent working for George III.