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Musical Scene

Gerard van Honthorst1625-55

The Cleveland Museum of Art

The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States

The Utrecht artist Gerrit van Honthorst was internationally known as a portrait painter, but he also gained a reputation as a painter of raucous musical scenes and parties. This drawing was once part of an album of compositional types that the artist showed to prospective patrons. Though the cheerful theme of a man and a woman sharing a song seems innocent, such unions often had amorous or lascivious connotations in 17th-century Holland.

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  • Title: Musical Scene
  • Creator: Gerrit van Honthorst (Dutch, 1590-1656)
  • Date Created: 1625-55
  • Physical Dimensions: Sheet: 17.3 x 20.4 cm (6 13/16 x 8 1/16 in.)
  • Provenance: Studio of Gerrit von Honthorst, art market, Belgium, Habolt & Co., Paris, France, Private Collection, Amsterdam, Netherlands, the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Type: Drawing
  • Rights: CC0
  • External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/2019.6
  • Medium: black ink wash over pen and brown ink and black chalk over graphite on gray-brown paper with white heightening, incised
  • Inscriptions: inscribed “no 27” in black chalk, lower right on antique laid tan textured paper
  • Fun Fact: In 17th-century Holland, scenes of men and women playing music together often had amorous connotations.
  • Department: Drawings
  • Culture: Netherlands, 17th century
  • Credit Line: John L. Severance Fund
  • Collection: DR - Dutch
  • Accession Number: 2019.6
The Cleveland Museum of Art

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