Monkey playing the piano

Landseer, Edwin (1802-1873)

Item type:

painting

Date of creation:

ca. 1827

Height:

13.4 cm  (5 1/4 in.)

Width:

9.8 cm  (3 7/8 in.)

Technique / Medium:

watercolor and gouache with black chalk

Place of creation:

England

Description

A monkey, seated on a chair covered with a tiger skin, is playing a small upright piano and singing. The monkey is wearing a blue short-sleeved dress with a white collar and black ribbon, brown pants, and a white bonnet. A book of music is on the piano's music stand. A bright red parrot is perched on a bird stand to the monkey's right. A picture hangs above the piano, and a dark, heavy curtain is draped behind the parrot. Beneath the curtain, green plants are visible outside.

Iconclass

25F22
monkeys, apes
48C7333
pianoforte
48C7541
singer accompanying himself
25F35(PARROT)
ornamental birds: parrot

Instruments [MIMO Code] (notes)

Pianoforte [2299]

RIdIM images

Image URLs

image link 1

Bibliographic references

Eitner, Lorenz, Betsy G. Fryberger, Carol Margot Osborne, with contributions by Dwight C. Miller, and others. The drawing collection (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Museum of Art; Seattle: Distributed by University of Washington Press, 1993) 379, no. 609.

RIdIM record id

5310