Unidentified painting

[Monica Hall]

This is another query about a painting of the baroque guitar with lute.  I have this attributed to Bartolomeo Manfredi but elsewhere it seems to be attributed to Theodoor Rombouts.  It has the title Das Musizierende Paar.   Which is the correct artists?

What I also wanted to know was whether anyone has seen the actual painting and whether it is possible to read the music they are playing.   From the reproductions I have it looks as if it is tablature.

 

 

[Lex Eisenhardt]

I have a file of the picture of Cantu in very high resolution. It is amazingly detailed. and the five courses can be seen very clearly.

[Monica Hall]

How big is the original? As I understand it, it is an engraving and more than one example of it survives but I might be wrong about that. I agree with you - it's a 5-course instrument. Some people just have odd ideas - especially when it come to 6-4 chords.

[Monica Hall]

I wish...it looks like she's playing chord B but I wouldn't like to guess what he's playing.

[Yuri Liman]

Actually ... to me it looks like she is playing F major chord with open 1st and 5th courses...  the shape really looks like B chord...but the 3rd finger seems to be too low for a 5th course...  

 - or maybe D minor if we consider her pinky is stopping 2nd course at the 3rd fret...

And he then plays D minor shape (F,D, A - 2nd,3rd,4th courses )

Just guessing of course

[Yuri Liman]

Or may be she should have plyed D-minor but by mistake played C major... and now he points into the score to show her...)))

[Chuck Goerke]

Looks like a C chord to me.  Also...does he appear to have stubby fingers on his right hand?

[Yuri Liman]

B chord meaning alfabeto (i.e. C major triad in open position)

[Chuck Goerke]

Damned alfabeto...gets me every time.

[Monica Hall]

His fingers are curled into the palm of his hand.

[Lex Eisenhardt]

Mine is from the Österreichische Nationalbiliothek, see http://digital.onb.ac.at/OnbViewer/viewer.faces?doc=ABO_%2BZ159597709

However, the reproduction on this site is in a considerably lower resolution than the one I have.

[Monica Hall]

Thanks for the link - it's interesting to see it in context. Not that i have time to read it all but as it is in a printed book then there must be more than one copy of it. I have a better reproduction of it than that but the 4th and 5th courses look like single strings........

[Michael P Walker]

The double strings are visible on the 4th course between the thumb and forefinger of the right hand.  The two strings of the 4th course appear to be pushed together on the fretboard by the forefinger of the left.  Double strings on the 5th course are much more difficult to detect and would require greater resolution than I have.