1524
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Dominant colour
The Musicians is a 1524 by Lucas van Leyden, a Renaissance work, depicting Lute, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
This painting shows two musicians in fancy 15th-century clothes. A man tunes a lute carefully. Nearby, a woman plays a three-string rebec, a violin-like instrument. The clothes look expensive. The pointed shoes and braided coat suggest royal or noble status. People think this scene might show a happy marriage. Look up Lucas van Leyden (Dutch, 1494–1533) if you like this artist.
A man tunes a lute with great concentration, plucking a single string with one hand and turning the tuning peg with the other. Close by, a woman bows a three-stringed rebec--an instrument tuned in fifths like a violin, usually used to play dance music. The costly braiding decorating the man’s coat, and his tight-fitting stockings and pointed wooden sandals suggest the clothing of the courtly class at end of the 15th century. The engraving has been interpreted as depicting marital harmony and longstanding fidelity.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Lucas van Leyden (1494 – 8 August 1533), was a Dutch painter and printmaker in engraving and woodcut. Lucas van Leyden was among the first Dutch exponents of genre painting and was a very accomplished engraver.
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