El Oído

Brueghel, Jan, the elder (1568-1625)

Rubens, Peter Paul (1577-1640)


Item type:
painting
Date of creation:
1617-1618
Height:
64.0 cm  (25 3/16 in.)
Width:
109.5 cm  (43 1/8 in.)
Technique / Medium:
oil on panel
School:
Flemish

Additional titles

Hearing

    Item location

  • Museo Nacional del Prado
    [Museum inv. no.: P01395]

Description

The panel presents a huge range of musical instruments and other subjects associated with music and the sense of hearing: a) in the center an allegorical female figure playing a lute accompanied by a putto-like figure who holds an open music book with no legible music, and a young deer; b) left of the allegorical female figure is an ensemble of musical instruments, including a harpsichord, drum, trumpet, a double-coiled sackbut, reed pipe (pipe holder), zink (cornett), hautbois, double bass, violoncello, viol, violin, lira da braccio, rebec and lute; c) on the music stands, arranged in a circle, are part-books of a six-part madrigal of the second book of madrigals (published in 1603) by Peter Philips (also known as Pietro Philippi Inglese) dedicated to Albert VII, Archduke of Austria (sovereign of Habsburg Netherlands, 1598–1621), and his wife Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain (the inscription on the title-page of part-book facing the viewer is clearly visible: “Di Pietro Philippi Inglese … Organista delli serenis. Princip Alberto e Isabella Archiduqui d’Austria … de madrigale a sei voce novamente composite.”); d) in front of the ensemble of musical instruments is a music sheet lying on the floor presenting the canon “Beati qui audiunt” and an open book––also lying on the floor––that reveals the canon “Auditu i meo.”; e) in the background of the upper left corner are people gathered for a musical performance, including viol, lute, transverse flute, (maybe) hautbois and singers who are singing from music books with no visible music; on the table lie a lute and several other books (maybe music books); f) on the right side of the allegorical female figure are several musical instruments lying either on the floor or on a table, including bells of different shapes and sizes, zink (cornett), and a small natural horn; g) on the table left of the allegorical female figure are several musical clocks and a natural horn; h) in the right background on a several tables are depicted musical clocks of different shapes and sizes; i) above of these musical clocks is an image-within-an-image depicting “Orpheus charming the wild animals with his music”, showing Orpheus with harp; j) on the left side at the very top (with a black frame) is another image-within-an-image displaying the “Concert of the Gods” including several musical instruments of which two lutes and some other string instruments are visible; k) the picture on the inside of the harpsichord lid depicts the “Annunciation to the Shepherds”; l) in the center background a view into an imaginary landscape is provided; on the left side one can see the bell ends of two trumpet-like instruments, perhaps a folded trumpet and a straight trumpet; m) over the entire panel are spread many birds of different species. In sum the painting presents simultaneously natural, human, mythological and celestial music within an overall narrative of the allegory of music.

Instruments [MIMO Code] (notes)

Lute [3394]
Harpsichord [2251]
Drum [2585]
Natural trumpet [4419]
Sackbut (trombone) [4364]
Reedpipe [4040]
Cornett [3868]
Hautbois musette [5530]
Oboe [4232]
Double bass [3111]
Violoncello [3582]
Viol [3597]
Violin [3573]
Lira da braccio [3181]
Rebec [3202]
Transverse flute [4093]
Bell [2381]
Natural horn [4126]
Mechanical clock [4532]
Musical bow [3538]
Harp [3285]

Musical works

Philips, Peter -- Six-part madrigal (second book of madrigals, published in 1603)legible music notationInscription on the title-page of part-book facing the viewer is clearly visible: “Di Pietro Philippi Inglese … Organista delli serenis. Princip Alberto e Isabella Archiduqui d’Austria … de madrigale a sei voce novamente composite.”); i.e Albert VII, Archduke of Austria (sovereign of Habsburg Netherlands, 1598–1621), and his wife Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain.

Unknown -- Beati qui audiuntlegible music notationTranscription in José Sierra Pérez (see bibliography)

Unknown -- Auditu i meolegible music notationTranscription in José Sierra Pérez (see bibliography)

Image URLs

image link 1
image link 2
image link 3
Wikimedia Commons
image link 4
Wikimedia Commons

Bibliographic references

Sierra Pérez, José. "Pintura sonora: La música escrita en el cuadro El oído, de Jan Brueghel de Velours (1568–1625) y Pedro Pablo Rubens (1577–1640)", Revista de musicología, 28 (2), 1135–1163. RILM 2005-15781.

Thomas, Werner; Luc Duerloo, eds. Albert & Isabelle: 1598–1621. Cataloge Musées Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire; Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Turnhout: Brepols, 1998). ISBN 2503507255.

Leppert, Richard. "Music, representation, and social order in early-modern Europe", Cultural Critique, 12 (1989), 25–55. RILM 1996-6899.

Ripin, Edwin M. "The two-manual harpsichord in Flanders before 1650", The Galpin Society Journal, 21 (1968) 33–39. RILM 1968-1106.

Hellwig, Friedemann. "The morphology of lutes with extended bass strings", Early Music, 9/4 (1981) 447–454. RILM 1981-5950.

Finlay, Ian F. "Musical instruments in 17th-century Dutch paintings", The Galpin Society Journal, 6 (1953) 52–69. RILM 1969-232.

Murray, John Joseph. Antwerp in the age of Plantin and Brueghel (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1972). ISBN 0715355279.

Hoekstra, Gerald R. "The reception and cultivation of the Italian madrigal in Antwerp and the Low Countries, 1555–1620", Musica Disciplina, 48 (1994) 125–187. RILM 1996-4596.

Flood, W. H. Grattan. "New light on late Tudor composers: XL. Peter Philips", The Musical Times, 70/1034 (1929) 312–314.

Woollett, Anne T. Rubens & Brueghel: A working friendship [... published to accompany the exhibition "Rubens and Brueghel. A working friendship", held at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, and the Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis, The Hague ; the exhibition will be on view in Los Angeles from July 5 to September 24, 2006 ...] (Los Angeles, CA: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2006). ISBN 0892368470.

Notes

This panel belongs to a series of five paintings representing the five human senses; all in the collection of the Prado Museum in Madrid (Sight, inv.-no.: P01394; Hearing, inv.–no.: P01395; Smell, inv.–no.: P01396; Taste, inv.–no.: P01397; and Touch, inv.–no.: P01398). All of them were created as collaboration between Jan Brueghel “the Elder" and Peter Paul Rubens.

RIdIM record id

3337