Two men and a young woman making music on a terrace

Steen, Jan (1626-1679)

Item type:

painting

Date of creation:

1670-1675

Height:

43.8 cm  (17 1/4 in.)

Width:

60.7 cm  (23 7/8 in.)

Technique / Medium:

oil on canvas

Description

A seated lady, dressed in brown and orange, is represented singing, with an open music book in her lap. The lute player at the right resembles certain stock figures in the commedia dell'arte performances. His squint suggests that he is short-sighted and therefore listens all the more closely to the sounds he coaxes from his lute as he tunes. He strains to read the music sheet on the ledge in front of him.

Instruments [MIMO Code] (notes)

Lute [3394]

Musical works

illegible music notation

RIdIM images

Image URLs

image link 1

Bibliographic references

Wieseman, Marjorie E. Vermeer and music: The art of love and leisure (London: National Gallery Company, 2013) 54, cat. no. 16. RILM 2013-5919.

RIdIM record id

3559