Allegory of Europe

Oudry, Jean-Baptiste (1686-1755)

Item type:

painting

Date of creation:

1722

Height:

162.0 cm  (63 3/4 in.)

Width:

152.0 cm  (59 13/16 in.)

Signed and dated lower left: peint.par/JB. Oudry/1722

Technique / Medium:

oil on canvas

Place of creation:

Paris (France)

Description

Allegory of Europe fuses together Jean-Baptiste Oudry´s two specialties as a painter—animal and still life painting—in the form of an allegory, or the expression of an abstract idea through symbols. This painting is part of a series that Oudry painted of the four continents known to exist at the time, Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. A monkey holds a violin and its bow, a musette is resting at its feet and under the instrument are some sheets with music. Continuing to the right is a recorder and to conclude the composition, on the bottom in the foreground lies a five-course guitar. The work may be an allegory of elements.

Instruments [MIMO Code] (notes)

Violin [3573]
Bow [2207]
Musette [3768]
Recorder [4039]
Guitar [3237] (five-course baroque guitar)

Musical works

Recueil d'Airs Serieux, Tendres et à Boireillegible music notation
The title and the music are partially obscured, but it seems to be a 1715/18 edition of "Recueil d'Airs Serieux, Tendres et à Boire"

Image URLs

image link 1
image link 2

Notes

Similar disposition of instruments and same printed music as the work in RIdIM 1247

RIdIM record id

2920