Thursday, January 23, 2020

Music Makers in Paintings (1485-1938)

Lorenzo Costa
A Concert
ca. 1485
oil on panel
National Gallery, London

Pieter Codde
A Company Making Music
1631
oil on panel
Bristol Museum and Art Gallery

Willem Cornelisz Duyster
Musical Party
ca. 1634
oil on panel
Wellington Collection, Apsley House, London

attributed to Jacob van Reesbroeck
Portrait of a Man with a Lute
ca. 1655-60
oil on canvas
Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow

from Arcadia

Just as there were reeds along the riverbank,
Just as there were clouds
Above my head, my lute was lying beside me on the grass.

I placed the little finger of my right hand on the soundboard,
Just below the strings.
Not the tip of the finger, the side.

I curled the palm of my right hand towards me,
Covering the strings, so that I played
The bass note with the thumb,
The next with the index,
And the top note with the third.

The sun retreated, the night turned cold.
Rain began to fall, softly at first,
Though surely rain had fallen here before, as rain falls everywhere.

With my left hand, I positioned my thumb and index finger
Opposite each other, bearing no weight,
As if the neck of the lute were not there.

– James Longenbach (2015)

Jan Steen
The Harpsichord Lesson
ca. 1660-70
oil on panel
Wallace Collection, London

Jacob Ochtervelt
Young Man singing to a Violin
1666
oil on panel
Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow

Caspar Netscher
Young Lady playing the Guitar
1669
oil on panel
Wallace Collection, London

Joshua Reynolds
Mrs James Paine with Charlotte and Mary Paine
1766
oil on canvas
Lady Lever Art Gallery, Liverpool

Thomas Gainsborough
Portrait of Louisa, Lady Clarges
ca. 1780-85
oil on canvas
Victoria Art Gallery, Bath

François Bonvin
Woman at a Spinet
1862
oil on canvas
Burrell Collection, Glasgow

Albert Joseph Moore
A Musician
ca. 1867
oil on canvas
Yale Center for British Art

Frederic Leighton
The Music Lesson
1877
oil on canvas
Guildhall Art Gallery, London

John Melhuish Strudwick
St Cecilia
ca. 1896
oil on panel
Sudley House, Liverpool

Edwin Austin Abbey
Lute Player
1899
oil on canvas
Royal Academy of Arts, London

John Copley
Chamber Music
ca. 1938
oil on canvas
Manchester Art Gallery