Existing comment:
Judith Leyster
The Concert, ca 1633
Along with tavern scenes and intimate domestic genre pieces, Judith Leyster-like her male contemporaries-was fond of musical subjects. In The Concert Leyster accurately depicts such elements as the Baroque violin (made without a chin rest and usually supported against the chest), plus the singer's songbook, held open on her lap.
The people depicted here are specific individuals, not generic figures. Based on similar persons in Leyster's other pictures, scholars have tentatively identified the singer as the artist herself, the violinist as her husband, and the lute player as a family friend. The members of the trio, like all musicians, must work together as a unit, "in concert," which has led some writers to theorize that this scene symbolizes the virtue of harmony.
Leyster frequently places her subjects against a plain, monochromatic background, with nothing to distract the viewer from the figures, who are all shown in the midst of various actions (bowing or plucking strings, beating time). The deep angle at which the lute is held adds depth to the composition, and the varied directions in which the musicians are looking offer viewers different points of focus. |