The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Special Exhibitions


	Current Exhibitions
	Upcoming Exhibitions
	Past Exhibitions
	Traveling Exhibitions

Printing Instructions

The Still Lifes of Evaristo Baschenis: The Music of Silence

Back to main page for this exhibition

Still Life with Musical Instruments, ca. 1665. Evaristo Baschenis (Italian [Bergamo], 1617–1677). Oil on canvas.Private collection.

More about This Exhibition
The outstanding still life painter of 17th-century Italy, Evaristo Baschenis hailed from Bergamo, north east of Milan. As an artist who had worked outside a major artistic center and in what was considered a lesser genre, it is not surprising that by the beginning of the 19th century he was largely forgotten. his rediscovery in this century is part of an ongoing revaluation of the history of Baroque art. Marking his debut in America, "The Still Lifes of Evaristo Baschenis: The Music of Silence" presented a selection of eighteen of the artist's finest pictures, many of which were from private collections and had never been seen outside the artist's native city; some still belong to the families for whom they were painted. They were shown alongside musical instruments in the Museum's collection—the kind that Baschenis collected, played, and depicted in his paintings.

Once thought to have led the provincial life of a priest and painter in Bergamo, we now know that Baschenis traveled to Rome and elsewhere, was involved with a large circle of artists, and had important patrons in Venice, Milan, and Mantua. From the moment he established an independent workshop in 1643, he dedicated himself to painting still lifes. Indeed, almost without exception he restricted himself to two themes: kitchen scenes with foodstuffs and utensils, and musical instruments. He was probably drawn to still life because of its importance in Lombardy, where artists beginning with Caravaggio had created masterpieces in the genre.

Baschenis became widely known for the painting of musical instruments, single-handedly creating a genre that was to flourish in the hands of followers into the following century. A musician as well as a painter, he portrayed himself at the spinet and left a large inheritance of instruments and musical scores. His passion for music is one explanation for his concentration on instruments as subjects, but other factors may be involved as well. Having studied with an expert in architectural perspective (what was known as quadratura painting), he was fascinated by the study of perspective and challenged by the depiction of lutes and violins, with their irregular, curved forms. These he arranged into compositions of masterful, restrained geometry. The subtle variations between them suggest that Baschenis considered his works almost as musical inventions, with ever-changing rhythms and ornament. His finest paintings are imbued with an air of silence and time arrested, as the instruments—sometimes covered by a layer of dust—lie scattered on a table in a quiet angle of a room.

The exhibition was made possible by Banca Popolare di Bergamo-CreditoVaresino, in cooperation with Camera di Commercio di Bergamo.

The exhibition was organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, with the Accademia Carrara of Bergamo, and the Superintendency of Milan, under the Patronage of the President of the Italian Republic, with the support of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Cultural Heritage, Regione Lombardia, Provincia di Bergamo and Comune di Bergamo.

More about the Objects on View

More about the Artist

Educational Programs

Exhibition Publication

Exhibition Organizers and Credits

More about the Objects on View
Among the highlights of the exhibition was Baschenis's masterpiece, a large-scale triptych done for the Agliardi family of Bergamo, which includes a self-portrait of the artist and portraits of the family members playing instruments. This work was on loan from the descendants of the family that commissioned the paintings more than three centuries ago. Other works in the exhibition had never before left Bergamo.

Philippe de Montebello, director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, commented on the exhibition: "The Metropolitan is delighted to present the paintings of Evaristo Baschenis to our visitors, who may be encountering his extraordinarily poetic still-lifes for the first time. A painter of consummate technical achievement, Baschenis is among the most original of Italian 17th-century still-life painters."

Mr. de Montebello further noted: "As director of the Metropolitan, it is gratifying to see the ways in which special exhibitions can be enriched by the participation of various departments within our encyclopedic Museum. In the case of this exhibition, the collaboration is between the departments of European Paintings, Musical Instruments, Drawings and Prints, and European Sculpture and Decorative Arts. The examples of Baroque musical instruments, treatises on perspective, and selected decorative objects on view greatly enhance our presentation of these marvelous still lifes."

More about the Artist
Evaristo Baschenis was born in Bergamo in 1617 into a family that included several generations of artists. Once thought to have lived the provincial life of a priest and painter in Bergamo, we now know that he traveled to Rome and elsewhere, was involved with a large circle of artists, and had important patrons in Venice, Milan, and Mantua. From the moment he established his independent workshop in 1643, he dedicated himself to painting still lifes, perhaps drawn to the genre because of its importance to earlier Lombard painters such as Caravaggio.

Almost without exception, Baschenis restricted his paintings to two themes: kitchen scenes with foodstuffs and utensils, and musical instruments. The paintings of musical instruments—a genre that Baschenis single-handedly invented and refined to an unparalleled level of accomplishment—enjoyed wide popularity and were highly prized by the aristocratic families who were his patrons. In these circles music, associated with poetry, literature, and history, was regarded as a particularly cultivated form of entertainment.

During his lifetime Baschenis—who was himself a musician—amassed an impressive collection of instruments and musical scores. The artist would arrange these into carefully choreographed compositions for his paintings, presenting novel and daringly foreshortened views of the instruments. Having studied with an expert in architectural perspective, known as quadratura painting, Baschenis was fascinated by the study of perspective and challenged by the depiction of lutes and violins, with their curved and irregular forms. In his paintings, he subtly altered the arrangement and combination of instruments from one canvas to the next, much as a composer might vary the elements in a musical composition.

Educational Programs
A variety of educational events were offered in conjunction with the exhibition including a concert, lectures, gallery talks, and programs for teachers.

Exhibition Publication
A fully illustrated exhibition catalogue, published by Edizioni Olivares, is available in the Metropolitan's Bookshop and in the online Met Store in a softcover edition.

Exhibition Organizers and Credits
At the Metropolitan, the exhibition was organized by Andrea Bayer, assistant curator, Department of European Paintings, with Laurence B. Kanter, curator in charge, Robert Lehman Collection, and Stewart S. Pollens, associate conservator, Department of Musical Instruments. Exhibition design was by Michael C. Batista, exhibition designer, with graphics by Sophia Geronimus, graphic designer, and lighting by Zack Zanolli, lighting designer, all of the Museum's Design Department.

Photograph Credits