Artwork Page for The Organ Player and His Wife

Details / Information for The Organ Player and His Wife

The Organ Player and His Wife

1495–1500

Israhel van Meckenem

(German, c. 1440–1503)
Culture
Germany
Medium
engraving
Measurements
Image: 16.6 x 11 cm (6 9/16 x 4 5/16 in.); Sheet: 16.6 x 11 cm (6 9/16 x 4 5/16 in.)
Credit Line
Delia E. Holden Fund 1960.73
Catalogue raisonné
Lehrs IX.397.507
State
undescribed state/III
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
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Description

In a cozy, domestic setting, an organ player plays a portative with four registers. His wife operates the two bellows, producing the wind that gives the instrument its sound. The activity of one would be inconceivable and pointless without the other. The music they create together--as well as the faithful dog placed prominently in the foreground--refers to marital harmony.
A vertically oriented engraving depicts a man and a woman in a domestic interior. On the right, a man with light skin tone wearing a cap and robes sits playing a pipe organ. To the left, a woman with light skin tone and a headwrap sits on a platform, pumping the bellows. A dog sits on the tiled floor. In the background, a cabinet is open, and a doorway reveals a bedroom.

The Organ Player and His Wife

1495–1500

Israhel van Meckenem

(German, c. 1440–1503)
Germany

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