English

Grand Piano

1720
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 684
Bartolomeo Cristofori was the first person to create a successful hammer-action keyboard instrument and, accordingly, deserves to be credited as the inventor of the piano. This example is the oldest of the three extant pianos by Cristofori. About 1700 he began to work on an instrument on which the player could achieve changes in loudness solely by changing the force with which the keys were struck. By 1700 he had made at least one successful instrument, which he called "gravicembalo col piano e forte" (harpsichord with soft and loud). His instrument still generally resembles a harpsichord, though its case is thicker and the quill mechanism has been replaced by a hammer mechanism. Cristofori's hammer mechanism is so well designed and made that no other of comparable sensitivity and reliability was devised for another seventy-five years. In fact, the highly complex action of the modern piano may be traced directly to his original conception.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Grand Piano
  • Maker: Bartolomeo Cristofori (Padua 1655–1731 Florence)
  • Date: 1720
  • Geography: Florence, Italy
  • Culture: Italian (Florence)
  • Medium: Cypress, boxwood, paint, leather, fir
  • Dimensions: Height (Total): 34 1/16 (86.5 cm)
    Width (Parallel to keyboard): 37 5/8 (95.6 cm)
    Depth (Case length, perpendicular to keyboard): 90 in. (228.6 cm)
  • Classification: Chordophone-Zither-struck-piano
  • Credit Line: The Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments, 1889
  • Object Number: 89.4.1219a–c
  • Curatorial Department: Musical Instruments

Audio

Cover Image for 945. Kids: Grand Piano

945. Kids: Grand Piano

0:00
0:00
We're sorry, the transcript for this audio track is not available at this time. Please email info@metmuseum.org to request a transcript for this track.

More Artwork

Research Resources

The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.

To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.

Feedback

We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.