Lute Player

Gallery 359, European Art 1500-1850, third floor

Main Building

Lute Player

c. 1620

Theodor Rombouts (Flemish (active Antwerp and Italy), 1597?–1637)

Lute players were often ridiculed for the inordinate amount of time they devoted to tuning their instruments. The intense look of this street musician seems to underscore the difficulty of the task and suggest that perhaps more than musical harmony is at stake. Showing a musical instrument being tuned was a veiled reference to striving for harmony in love. Stringed instruments could also symbolize temperance, especially when shown in the company of a tankard and a pipe, as here.

Gallery 359, European Art 1500-1850, third floor

Object Details

Title:

Lute Player

Date:

c. 1620

Artist:

Theodor Rombouts (Flemish (active Antwerp and Italy), 1597?–1637)

Medium:

Oil on canvas

Dimensions:

43 3/4 x 39 1/4 inches (111.1 x 99.7 cm) Frame: 49 3/4 x 45 x 3 inches (126.4 x 114.3 x 7.6 cm)

Classification:

Paintings

Credit Line:

John G. Johnson Collection, 1917

Accession Number:

Cat. 679

Geography:

Made in Southern Netherlands (modern Belgium), Europe

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Gallery 359, European Art 1500-1850, third floor

Main Building

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