A Musical Company, ca 1650

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Comment by Kernoa Patrig on November 1, 2008 at 21:30

Ce tableau, que je ne connaissais pas, est assez surprenant, aussi bien pour la guitare que pour, par exemple, la pique du violoncelle. Les personnages, les tentures tout semble "un collage" d'éléments puisés chez Vermeer et autres peintres du Siècle d'Or.
Les proportions entre les personnages sont aussi étonnantes.
Shall I write it in English or Dutch?

Comment by Alexander Batov on October 31, 2008 at 21:52

You are right. Six pegs, as well as, what looks like extended (applied) fingerboard are both a bit of a nonsense for a painting dated by mid-17th century.

A few possibilities here:

1. This can simply be a fake copy, say from the early 19th century (judging by the guitar under question), painted in style of Laurentius de Neter.
2. It could have been restored according to what seemed to be 'true' for the person who did it.
3. Or it could have been re-painted to suit the tastes of the person who once owned the painting.

A good example of the last point that comes to mind is with a well-known painting by Lionello da Spada "The concert" (c. 1615); see, for example here http://www.insecula.com/oeuvre/O0017002.html This painting was enlarged and, subsequently, modified with the effect that the guitar (lying on the table, on the left) changed its vaulted back to a flat one, the type supposedly more 'in agreement' with what would be more common in 17th century France. And this is what it would be like on the original: http://www.vihuelademano.com/vg-crossroads/LStalk/picart.jpg (as on the engraving by E. Picart, c.1680)

Comment by Jelma van Amersfoort on October 31, 2008 at 10:42

Hello Jean-Marie, it seems as if the guitar on the left has tuning pegs for six (single) strings... that's odd for 1650! Wonderful picture though.