Artwork Page for Musical Scene

Details / Information for Musical Scene

Musical Scene

1625–55

Gerrit van Honthorst

(Dutch, 1590–1656)
Culture
Netherlands
Medium
black ink wash over pen and brown ink and black chalk over graphite on gray-brown paper with white heightening, incised
Measurements
Support: 23.3 x 26.8 x 0.3 cm (9 3/16 x 10 9/16 x 1/8 in.); Image: 17.3 x 20.2 cm (6 13/16 x 7 15/16 in.)
Credit Line
John L. Severance Fund 2019.6
Public Domain
You can copy, modify, and distribute this work, all without asking permission. Learn more about CMA's Open Access Initiative.
Location
Not on view
Print
?

Did You Know?

In 17th-century Holland, scenes of men and women playing music together often had amorous connotations.

Description

The Utrecht artist Gerrit van Honthorst was internationally known as a portrait painter, but he also gained a reputation as a painter of raucous musical scenes and parties. This drawing was once part of an album of compositional types that the artist showed to prospective patrons. Though the cheerful theme of a man and a woman sharing a song seems innocent, such unions often had amorous or lascivious connotations in 17th-century Holland.
A horizontally oriented black ink wash drawing on gray-brown paper depicts two figures from the waist up. On our left, a figure in a plumed cap gazes at an open book. To our right, a second figure with a feathered headpiece tilts their head while playing a lute. Both have mouths slightly open as if singing. Sharp white highlights accent their faces and voluminous garments, contrasting with dark ink shadows and sketchy background marks.

Musical Scene

1625–55

Gerrit van Honthorst

(Dutch, 1590–1656)
Netherlands

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