Vermeer's Music

In the lives of the citizens of Johannes Vermeer's hometown Delft, or any other 17th-century city in the Low Countries, there was music, whether in church, at the inn, at parades and parties, or at home. 

In Vermeer's paintings, musical instruments sometimes are background accessories that give further meaning to what is depicted. And sometimes Vermeer's scenes are even completely constructed around the instruments.

Musical instruments were part of everyday life. But paintings are rarely (only) an exact representation of reality. In 17th-century paintings, instruments often carry an extra meaning.

For example, instruments can refer to the licentiousness of a wild dance, to the pride of the music virtuoso, to the harmony required in marriage, or even to the sensuality of a brothel scene, as in Vermeer's The Procuress. It is up to the viewer to decode the precise meaning.

The lute is a versatile instrument that can be played gracefully and is suitable as a solo instrument, as part of a music ensemble or to accompany a voice.

Interestingly, in Johannes Vermeer's Young Woman with a Lute, the musician isn't playing the instrument, she is tuning it, trying to bring order to chaos, even though she seems distracted by what is happening outside.

In the 17th century the guitar conquered a place next to the lute. The guitar is associated with Spain, but the instrument became extremely popular with the elite in Italy and France, and eventually even the Netherlands. 

Often guitars were lavishly decorated with expensive materials such as ivory and mother of pearl and with a complex rose in the sound hole, as is the case in Vermeer's The Guitar Player.

Another instrument that was very popular, especially in the Netherlands, was the cittern.

Thanks to its flat-back design (which can be seen in Vermeer's The Glass of Wine), the cittern was easier and cheaper to construct than the lute.

The viola da gamba, or viol, emerged in the late 15th century. The instrument is played with a bow. It has a warm sound and can be played both as a solo instrument and as part of an ensemble. 

The tuning of the strings shows some similarities with that of the lute, which made it easier for amateurs to change between these instruments.

In Vermeer's A Young Woman seated at a Virginal, a viol is waiting to be played, perhaps by a gentleman caller?

The painter of Girl with a Flute—possibly Vermeer—depicts a girl with a small recorder. The recorder was a popular instrument in the Netherlands, as it was cheap to make and easy to play. 

The most famous Dutch collection of recorder music is Der Fluyten Lust-hof (1644) by the Utrecht composer Jacob van Eyck.

But the trumpet was also the symbol of Fama, the personification of fame and renown. This is the meaning Vermeer references in The Art of Painting.

Between the middle of the 16th and the middle of the 17th century, Antwerp-built harpsichords and virginals were in high demand. And a prosperous 17th-century burgher owned a harpsichord or virginal, preferably from the workshops of the famous Antwerp Ruckers family.

Johannes Vermeer lived at a time when the Antwerp harpsichord and virginal makers lost popularity in favor of emerging French builders. Yet most of Vermeer's instruments are recognizable as Antwerp instruments.

This is an actual Antwerp virginal, built in 1611. The decoration is identical to that seen on Vermeer's The Music Lesson.