At the Met

On a field for AP Art History, we visited the Met. After Greek and Roman sculpture, Dutch landscapes, and getting lost twice in the rest of the European wing, I finally found the infamous "Lute Exhibit."

The lute exhibit, as it turned out, was actually titled, "Painting in the Age of Caravaggio." It centers around Caravaggio's The Musicians, along with Valentin de Boulogne's The Lute Player, and Laurent de La Hyre's Allegory of Music.

The exhibit poses the question, "What did people "hear" when they looked at paintings of musical performances by Caravaggio and his contemporaries?" By setting the paintings alongside contemporary instruments, the viewer can get a closer look at what was going on in the music and culture of the time. 

The painting were created when opera was a fast gaining in popularity and professional singers were gaining primacy. The lute was falling out of the spotlight it had held for so long. These painting seem to reference the fact that more and more, the lute was becoming the instrument of the angels, and less and less what the the everyday musician played.

Caravaggio, The Musicians

 

 

 

Painting Music in the Age of Caravaggio (January 20–April 5, 2015):http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2015/painting-music-age-of-caravaggio

Listening to Paintings Jayson Dobney, Associate Curator and Administrator, Department of Musical Instruments : http://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-museum/museum-departments/curatorial-departments/musical-instruments/of-note/2015/listening-to-paintings

http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings

Laurent de La Hyre, Allegory of Music