The triumph of music
Burney, Edward Francis (1760-1848)
- Yale Center for British Art
Paul Mellon Collection[Museum inv. no.: B1975.4.1467]
Item location
Description
CURATORIAL COMMENT FROM MUSEUM WEBSITE:This drawing, also known as “The Glee Club”, appears to be part of a coherent group along with “The Waltz”, “The Elegant Establishment for Young Ladies” (both Victoria & Albert Museum, London), and “Amateurs of Tye-Wig Music” (Paul Mellon Collection, ycba). All four pictures are of similar format and finish and are linked by their musical theme. Although no printed version has yet been identified, it is possible that Burney may have intended to publish them, but they may also have been created for the amusement of his private circle. “The Triumph of Music” depicts the type of musical group to which the Burney family belonged, a group of gentlemen (and sometimes ladies) who met to sing, eat, and drink together. Specifically, it refers to types of songs popular during the period; the numerous inscriptions are the titles of catches, canons, glees, and rounds. Glees in particular are characterized by their double, sometimes obscene meanings and the repetition of words or fragments of words. Here, the formal attributes of the picture echo the structures of glee and canon singing: the figures of the three old women on the right, for example, are repeated in the three young women on the left, and salacious visual puns abound. The tall, thin man on the left may be a self-portrait.
--Eleanor Hughes,2007-01
Iconclass
44312political caricatures and satire
43A2
private festivities, merry company
48C753
more than one musician with instrument
48C755
vocal music, singing
48C754
instrumental and vocal music together
48C741
printed edition of musical score
48C5142
picture within picture
Instruments [MIMO Code] (notes)
Pianoforte [2299]Harp [3285]
Trumpet [4446]
Oboe [4232] (in painting on wall)
Panpipe [4024] (with bust of Pan on left)
Musical works
Song titles or first lines: "Time has not thinnd my flowing hair . . ." and "Life's a Bumper" [and] "Mr. Speaker tho it's late . . ."legible music notationRIdIM images
Image URLs
image link 1Bibliographic references
Baskett, John. Paul Mellon's legacy, a passion for British art: Masterpieces from the Yale Center for British Art (New Haven: Yale Center for British Art, 2007) 277-278, no. 78, pl. 78.A loan exhibition of English drawings and watercolours from the collection of Mr and Mrs Paul Mellon of Upperville, Virginia (London: P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., 1964) cat. no. 30.
Powell, Nick. "Coleridge's London", The Coleridge Bulletin, new series 19 (Spring 2002) 9, no. 15.
Painting in England 1700-1850: Collection of Mr. & Mrs. Paul Mellon (Richmond: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 1963) v. 1, 206, no. 434.
Wilcox, Scott. British watercolors: Drawings of the 18th and 19th centuries from the Yale Center for British Art (New York: Hudson Hill Press, 1985) no. 41, pl. 41.
English drawings and watercolors, from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, April 15-June 20, 1965 (New Haven: Yale University Art Gallery, 1965) cat. no. 30.