A Group of Men and Women Playing Chamber Music Within a Portico, Surmounted by Statues of Apollo and Female Figures, and Surrounded by Putti

This drawing presents within a classical portico a group of fashionable men and women singing and playing musical instruments, among them a clavichord, double-headed lute, and cello. Atop the portico are Apollo with his lyre and four female figures: one, probably Venus, holds a flaming heart and is accompanied by Cupid (a reference to the longstanding association of music and love); the other three (possibly classical muses) hold a horn, read sheet music, and dance, respectively. The entire structure is surrounded and (with evident effort) supported by putti, some of whom also play music, while others occupy themselves with a soap bubble, at left, and, at right, a windmill. These motifs may simply allude to music as an inherently fleeting pleasure.

Ensembles of amateur musicians like this one appear in numerous Dutch paintings of the period. Some of these pictures associate music with amorous or sinful behavior, but a number, at least from mid-century on, are absent of overt moralizing content and instead reflect the prevalence of music-making amongst well-to-do burghers, who often gathered informally and, in some cases, formed societies known as collegia musica.

It is plausible that this drawing was intended as a design for an emblem or for a book illustration or frontispiece. One can easily envision text on the blank base of the portico. Regardless of its original function, the drawing exhibits a high degree of finish and was probably always valued as a work of art in its own right. A dazzling application of gray wash produces a vivid sense of light and volume, particularly in the sculptural bodies of the putti.

(JSS, 8/23/2018)