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Renaissance Violins

• 

  Violin, ca. 1560
  Andrea Amati (Italian, ca. 1505–1578)
  Italy (Cremona)
  Maple, spruce, various other materials; L. 14 in. (35.4 cm)
  Purchase, Robert Alonzo Lehman Bequest, 1999 (1999.26)

• 

  Mandora or chitarino, ca. 1420
  Northern Italy (Milan?)
  Boxwood and rosewood; L. 14 1/8 in. (35.9 cm)
  Gift of Irwin Untermyer, 1964 (64.101.1409)

• 
  The Musicians, ca. 1595
  Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi) (Italian, Lombard, 1571–1610)
  Oil on canvas; 36 1/4 x 46 5/8 in. (92.1 x 118.4 cm)
  Rogers Fund, 1952 (52.81)
  

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The modern four-string violin is generally considered to have originated about 1550 in northern Italy. The earliest violins incorporated features of existing bowed instruments: the rebec, the Renaissance fiddle, and the lira da braccio. The pear-shaped rebec had strings that were tuned in fifths, and this system was adopted for the violin. However, the shape of the violin was taken from the fiddle and the lira da braccio, as these larger instruments produced a bigger sound and the hourglass shape made bowing easier.



The earliest violins incorporated features of existing bowed instruments: the rebec, the Renaissance fiddle, and the lira da braccio.

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Timelines (3)

• Florence and Central Italy, 1400–1600 a.d.
• Rome and Southern Italy, 1400–1600 a.d.
• Venice and Northern Italy, 1400–1600 a.d.

Primary Thematic Essays (4)

• Music in the Renaissance
• Renaissance Keyboards
• Renaissance Organs
• Violin Makers: Nicolò Amati (1596-1684) and Antonio Stradivari (ca. 1644-1737)

Other Thematic Essays (8)

• Joachim Tielke (1641
• List of Rulers of Europe
• Musical Terms for the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
• Northern Italian Renaissance Painting
• The Development of the Recorder
• The Guitar
• The Lute
• The Opera

Maps (1)

• World, 1400-1600 A.D.

Index Terms (12)

Art Movement/Style

• The High Renaissance in Europe
• Northern Renaissance in European Art

Artist

• Amati, Andrea (Italian, Cremonese, ca. 1505–1578)
• Amati, Nicolò (Italian, 1596–1684)
• Caravaggio, Michelangelo Merisi da (Italian, 1573–1610)

Geography/Place

• European Renaissance Art

Material and Technique

• Wood, organized by type
• Boxwood

Object

• Musical Instrument
• Musical Instruments from Europe
• Musical Instruments from the Italian Peninsula
• String Instrument

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The violin was initially used for vocal and dance accompaniment, while its cousin, the viola da gamba, remained the preferred bowed string instrument for ensembles. By the seventeenth century, composers like Monteverdi began to incorporate violins into instrumental ensembles, where they eventually replaced the viola da gamba.

Rebecca Arkenberg Department of Education, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Citation Arkenberg, Rebecca. "Renaissance Violins". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/renv/hd_renv.htm (October 2002) Related exhibitions and online features Special Exhibitions (including upcoming, current, and past exhibitions)

These related Museum Bulletin or Journal articles may or may not represent the most current scholarship. Camiz, Franca Trinchieri "Music and Painting in Cardinal del Monte's Household." Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 26 (1991). JSTOR | PDF Cropper, Elizabeth "The Petrifying Art: Marino's Poetry and Caravaggio." Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 26 (1991). JSTOR | PDF "Musical Instruments in the Metropolitan Museum." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 35, no. 3 (Winter, 1977–78). JSTOR | PDF | Supplemental PDFs "Director’s Note" PDF Winternitz, Emanuel "Pleasing Eye & Ear Alike." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 30, no. 2 (October–November, 1971). JSTOR | PDF