Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Concert with Eight Figures
Valentin de Boulogne French
Not on view
Music as an emblem of harmony seems to be the theme of this picture, for all appear united in their performance—even the armored soldier. Particularly notable are the two youths intent on singing. According to the French theologian, philosopher, and music theorist Marin Mersenne (1588–1648), "One can call the divine spirit that moves all things the maestro and conductor of this music, and of this great concert of all creatures." The modern critic Michael Fried recently wrote: "There is an extraordinary expansiveness in these pictures beyond Caravaggio’s seminal idea, as if in them a sonata had received full orchestration."
The picture belonged to Cardinal Jules Mazarin and his heirs before eventually entering France’s royal collections.
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