THE QUEEN OF INSTRUMENTS: THE LUTE WITHIN OLD MASTER PAINTINGS

Monday 14th November

THE QUEEN OF INSTRUMENTS: THE LUTE WITHIN OLD MASTER PAINTINGS

A lecture by  – Adam Busiakiewicz

The lute holds a special place in the history of art: painters of the Italian Renaissance depicted golden-haired angels plucking its delicate strings, evoking celestial harmony; in the sixteenth century, during the rise of humanism, the lute was a becoming pastime of educated courtiers, as depicted by the likes of Holbein and Titian; throughout the seventeenth century, the instrument continued to play a key role in emphasising the intimate, debauched and transient pleasures of interior scenes by Jan Steen and portraits by Frans Hals. This lecture looks at the lute, and other musical instruments, as devices to express various aspects of the human character throughout the ages. (As part of this lecture, there is an option for live music performance; faithfully reproduced solo lute music and/or accompanying the voice and other instruments.)