''Lute Player'' is an early 17th-century painting by French artist
Valentin de Boulogne
Valentin de Boulogne (before 3 January 1591 – 19 August 1632), sometimes referred to as Le Valentin, was a French painter in the tenebrist style.
Origins
Valentin was born in Coulommiers, France, where he was baptised in the parish of Saint ...
. Done in oil on canvas, the painting depicts a young soldier playing a lute. The painting was originally in the collection of
Cardinal Mazarin
Cardinal Jules Mazarin (, also , , ; 14 July 1602 – 9 March 1661), born Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino () or Mazarini, was an Italian cardinal, diplomat and politician who served as the chief minister to the Kings of France Louis XIII and Louis ...
, and is now in the collection of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 100 ...
, in
New York
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* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
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Film and television
* '' ...
.
[Annick Lemoine, Keith Christiansen, ''Valentin de Boulogne: Beyond Caravaggio'', New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2016, p. 162 ISBN 978-1-58839-602-0]
Description
''Lute'' was rendered by Valentin de Boulogne between 1625 and 1626 in Rome. The work was then sold, and first appears in the collection of Cardinal Mazarin, a French political minister who owned nine other works by de Boulogne. The painting's title and central figure may be self-referential as de Boulogne's nickname in Rome was "Amador", which has been loosely translated from Spanish as "lover boy".
The painting itself depicts a young man playing a lute. The figure is clad in rich clothing and a steel
gorget
A gorget , from the French ' meaning throat, was a band of linen wrapped around a woman's neck and head in the medieval period or the lower part of a simple chaperon hood. The term later described a steel or leather collar to protect the th ...
, indicating he is a soldier - likely a Spanish mercenary. Like many of de Boulogne's paintings, ''Lute'' is heavily influenced by
tenebrism
Tenebrism, from Italian ' ("dark, gloomy, mysterious"), also occasionally called dramatic illumination, is a style of painting using especially pronounced chiaroscuro, where there are violent contrasts of light and dark, and where darkness become ...
, a style of art popularized by de Boulogne's contemporary
Caravaggio
Michelangelo Merisi (Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi) da Caravaggio, known as simply Caravaggio (, , ; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the final four years of hi ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lute Player
1626 paintings
Paintings by Valentin de Boulogne
Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Musical instruments in art
Genre paintings