The Lute Player
around 1626 | Hendrick Terbrugghen
Ever since Caravaggio’s early depictions of the subject, musicians were a popular motif, whether singly or in groups, above all for his successors in Holland. In Dutch painting especially, music is attributed with symbolic significance; so perhaps the painter wished his model – who is just beginning to make music and tune her lute – to be understood as an allegory of the sense of hearing.
Ever since Caravaggio’s early depictions of the subject, musicians were a popular motif, whether singly or in groups, above all for his successors in Holland. In Dutch painting especially, music is attributed with symbolic significance; so perhaps the painter wished his model – who is just beginning to make music and tune her lute – to be understood as an allegory of the sense of hearing.
Artist:
Hendrick Terbrugghen (1588 Utrecht oder Den Haag - 1629 Utrecht) DNB
Time:
around 1626
Object Name
Painting
Culture
Caravaggio and Caravaggesque painting
Material/technology:
Canvas
Dimensions:
71 cm × 85 cm
Framed: 91 cm × 105,7 cm × 6,4 cm
Copyright
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Gemäldegalerie
Invs.
Gemäldegalerie, 9116
Provenance
Prince Dietrichstein; acquired in 1953;