The sense of hearing

Mercier, Philippe (1689-1760)

Item type:

painting

Date of creation:

1744-1747

Height:

132.1 cm  (52 in.)

Width:

153.7 cm  (60 1/2 in.)

Technique / Medium:

oil on canvas

Description

One of a series of five paintings by Mercier focusing on the senses, this work uses human music-making to represent the sense of hearing. The crowded scene includes of four women playing musical instruments--flute, violin, cello, and harpsichord--and suggests written music with an open score (notation not visible). The other paintings in this series are also held by the Yale Center for British Art.

Iconclass

31A32
hearing, listening (one of the five senses)
48C753(+372)
more than one musician with instrument ( + performing ~ music)

Instruments [MIMO Code] (notes)

Transverse flute [4093]
Violoncello [3582]
Violin [3573]
Harpsichord [2251] (or pianoforte; single manual)

RIdIM images

Image URLs

image link 1

Bibliographic references

Barringer, Timothy J. Art & music in Britain, four encounters, 1730-1900 (New Haven: Yale Center for British Art, 2006) 4-5.

Hayes, John T. "English painting and the Rococo", Apollo 90 (August 1969) 120, 122, fig. 10.



Ingamells, John. A catalogue of the paintings, drawings, and etchings of Philip Mercier, Walpole Society, vol. 46 (Walpole Society, 1976-8) 5, 62, no. 264, pl. 5d.

Notes

Mercier painted this exact scene at least twice; a slightly different, smaller version (61.6 x 75.0 cm) is documented as RIdIM item 3133. See additional bibliographic references on the Yale Center for British Art website (image link 1) and with RIdIM 3133.

RIdIM record id

6238