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Hendrick Terbrugghen (1588 - 1629) Dutch A BOY VIOLINIST, 1626 Oil on canvas Height 41 3/4 inches Width 31 1/4 inches Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Elton F. MacDonald, 1960.7 |
After returning to Utrecht in 1614, Hendrick Terbrugghen took with him
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio's characteristic use of naturalism, oblique,
raking light, and a propensity for exotically clothed figures. Unlike
Caravaggio's bravo figures (lowlife dandies and
young thugs who frequented taverns), this youthful violinist seems less a true
musician than a poor country bumpkin dressed up in fancy clothes posing as a
musician. The wide-open toothy smile and happy, distracted gaze would seem to
indicate a lad whose concentration is hardly upon the music he is supposedly
playing.
This engaging painting clearly demonstrates the strong, stylistic influence of
Caravaggio upon Terbrugghen, a Dutch contemporary of the Italian revolutionary
painter. Terbrugghen had first studied with the Dutch Mannerist artist, Abraham
Bloemaert, in the Catholic city of Utrecht. Then, from 1604 to 1614, like many
of his northern European compatriots, Terbrugghen traveled to Rome where he
experienced and was strongly influenced by the dramatic and highly realistic
works of Caravaggio and his followers.
Whether or not this painting was intended to have meaning beyond its obvious
subject is debatable. Paintings such as this may have been part of a series of
the five senses, this example representing hearing. Since depictions of music
and singing were sometimes used as a metaphor for the brevity of human pleasure
and life, it may be a vanitas, that is, a
reminder of man's mortality. On the other hand and perhaps more likely, the
painting may have been merely intended to amuse and delight its viewer without
such morose hidden meanings or warnings about the fleeting nature of human life.
Dominique H. Vasseur
SUGGESTED READINGS:
Nicholson, Benedict. Hendrick Terbrugghen. London: Lund Humphries & Co., 1958.
Slatkes, Leonard J., and Wolfgang Stechow (essayist). Hendrick Terbrugghen in America. Exhibition catalogue. Dayton, OH: The Dayton Art Institute, 1965.
