Musical murder

Woodward, George Moutard (ca. 1760-1809)

Item type:

painting

Height:

34.3 cm  (13 1/2 in.)

Width:

48.9 cm  (19 1/4 in.)

Technique / Medium:

watercolor and pen on paper

Description

A group of people are shown, some seated, some standing. Left to right, a standing male figure plays a trumpet, another standing male figure plays a horn, a seated male figure plays a violoncello, a standing male figure plays what appears to be a violin, a seated female figure plays what appears to be a lute, and a seated female figure plays a pianoforte. The remaining figures appear to sing, except for a seated male figure on the left in the foreground who appears to sleep. A harp is pictured in the background. A bird, perhaps a crow, is shown in the upper right corner, apparently singing.

Iconclass

43A(+3)
music and song ~ festive activities

Instruments [MIMO Code] (notes)

Trumpet [4446]
Horn [4118]
Violoncello [3582]
Violin [3573]
Lute [3394]
Pianoforte [2299]
Harp [3285]

Image URLs

image link 1

Bibliographic references

Leppert, Richard D. “Men, women, and music at home: the influence of cultural values on musical life in eighteenth-century England”. Imago musicae 2 (1985) 51-133, fig. 14. RILM 1985-6899.

Notes

"Inscribed: the Musical Murder" -- Huntington catalog record.

RIdIM record id

5454