A man playing a hurdy-gurdy

Lancret, Nicolas (1690-1743) (attributed to)


Item type:
painting
Date of creation:
early 18th century
Height:
22.7 cm  (8 15/16 in.)
Width:
18.0 cm  (7 1/16 in.)
Technique / Medium:
oil on canvas

    Item location

  • Barber Institute of Fine Arts (University of Birmingham)
    [Museum inv. no.: 56.9]

Description

The hurdy-gurdy is a musical instrument which was originally associated with the poor and with beggars. However, in the eighteenth century it was increasingly played by fashionable members of the nobility who wished to celebrate the simple pleasures of the peasant lifestyle. The work was thought as by the great French artist Jean-Antoine Watteau, but it is now thought by some to be closer in style to his follower Lancret.

Instruments [MIMO Code] (notes)

Hurdy-gurdy [3305]

RIdIM images


Image URLs

image link 2

RIdIM record id

5556

Data provider