Lady Playing a Lute in an Interior
Eglon van der Neer
(Amsterdam 1634/36 – 1703 Düsseldorf)

1675
oil on panel
39.4 x 33.4 cm
signed and dated, indistinctly, in light paintalong upper right: “van *** Neer 16[7?]5”
EN-100© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Lady Playing a Lute in an Interior
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How to cite
Wieseman, Marjorie E. “Lady Playing a Lute in an Interior” (2017). In The Leiden Collection Catalogue, 2nded. Edited by Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. New York, 2017–20. https://theleidencollection.com/artwork/a-ladyplaying-a-lute-in-an-interior/ (archived May 2020).
A PDF of every version of this entry is available in this Online Catalogue's Archive, and the Archive ismanaged by a permanent URL. New versions are added only when a substantive change to the narrative
occurs.

Eglon van der Neer’s musician presents an elegant figure as she sits before

Comparative Figures

stately architecture touched with gilt and partly masked by a swag of heavy
curtain. She rests her elbow on a velvet-draped table crammed with costly
objects, including a book of tablature, a flute, a rumpled satin cloth, a silverewer, a marble (?) statue of a putto, and an open jewel casket. The woman
herself is no less opulently packaged: she wears a fur-trimmed crimsonhouse jacket over a shimmering white satin skirt and a bodice stiff with gold
brocade. Emerging from the garments like Venus rising from the surf, theiridescent flesh of her plump arms and inviting décolletage is accentuated by
the delicate frill of a white chemise. The young musician’s downcast gaze as
she quietly listens to the sounds of her instrument help create the painting’s
reflective mood and engaging character.
The woman plays what appears to be a two-headed “French” lute. An
identical instrument appears in other of Van der Neer’s paintings of female
musicians from the 1670s.[1] Both as a solo instrument and in ensemble

Fig 1. Jan Lievens, Portrait ofJacques Gaultier, 1632–35,etching, engraving, and drypoint,
268 x 213 mm, Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston, Bequest of
Washington Irving Jenkins, inv.
M26837playing, the lute was highly regarded among elite players for its versatilityand diverse repertoire; moreover, the warm tone produced by the gut strings
was deemed ideal for vocal accompaniment. Although the lute’s basic
structure remained the same, it was modified continually throughout theseventeenth century, at least partly in response to stylistic changes in themusic itself.[2] Much baroque music featured the basso continuo, in which thebass line provided the melody around which other instruments or voices
improvised harmonies. Accordingly, the lower register of the lute was© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Lady Playing a Lute in an InteriorPage 3 of 9extended by modifying or adapting the instrument to accommodate additional(unstopped) bass strings. The archlute, chitarrone, theorbo, and two-headed“French” lute were among the more popular variants produced in this way.
As the modifications were often quite individual, the differences between theinstruments, and the terminology used to describe them, are rather vague:
indeed, when considering the design of the theorbo, the seventeenth-century
German composer and music theorist Michael Praetorius remarked, “Since
constant changes take place in these various matters, nothing very definite
may be stated about them here.”[3] The two-headed lute is thought to havebeen invented by the French lutenist Jacques Gaultier (active 1617–52). An
engraved portrait by Jan Lievens (1607–74) shows Gaultier holding an
instrument similar to that depicted in Van der Neer’s painting (fig 1).[4]Fig 2. Eglon van der Neer, A Lady
Tuning a Theorbo, 1678, oil onpanel, 42.5 x 36.7 cm, Alte
Pinakothek, Munich, inv. 204, bpk,Berlin / Alte Pinakothek / Art
Resource, NYTaking full advantage of his meticulous technique, Van der Neer has
carefully calculated every aspect of the painting to entice the senses oftouch, sight and sound, and in so doing, to emphasize the inherent
sensuality of the image itself. The deliberate juxtaposition of so many
luxurious surface textures prompts admiration of the artist’s skill, and theaccuracy of the illusion allows the viewer to dwell on the pleasurable
aesthetic and sensorial qualities of the actual objects.[5] Nowhere is this moreseductively presented than in Van der Neer’s rendering of the woman’s soft
flesh: in visually “touching” her flesh (as well as the other objects in thepainting), we are led to consider the touch of her fingers upon the strings ofthe lute. We imagine the sweet sounds produced by her playing, which
prompts us to summon pleasant recollections of our own musicalexperiences. The reverse is also true, of course: seeing her fingers danceacross the lute strings prompts us to imagine our own fingers testing
surfaces and textures so meticulously and sensually presented.
Inlightoftheunabashedly

sensualposeofVanderNeer’s

model—positioned frontally, her knees spread wide, her jacket opened, andher bodice artfully loosened—it is impossible not to connect with music’s
more erotic associations. Musical motifs in paintings routinely connotedharmony in both its familial and amorous aspects, and Dutch paintings oflove and courtship involved music more often than not. More specifically, alute, or any of the instrument’s variant forms, could be a powerfully erotic
symbol and often figured as a metaphor for a woman’s genitalia.[6] Given thepervasive sensuality of the painting, it seems likely that Van der Neer had
such erotic allusions in mind, albeit cloaked in an aura of elegance andrefinement.

© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Lady Playing a Lute in an Interior
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Like many of his colleagues, Van der Neer frequently refined the depiction ofa particular theme in a series of closely related paintings executed over ashort span of time. In the 1670s, for example, he produced several paintingsof female lute players seated in sumptuous interiors: in addition to thepresent work, there are examples in a private collection in Hamburg; in theStaatlicheKunstsammlungen,Karlsruhe(dated1677);

intheGemäldegalerie, Berlin; and in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich (fig 2).[7] Thelast, dated 1678, repeats the present composition with just a few variations:
the woman tunes the lute rather than playing it, and the music book has beenplaced at shoulder height rather than by her elbow. This latter modification
enabled Van der Neer to give a more elegant turn to the musician’s head.
The architectural background in the Munich painting, while still classical instyle, has been modified to suggest a larger, lighter hall rather than a dark
and intimate chamber. The woman’s costume and hairstyle have also been
updated: the fur-trimmed house jacket ubiquitous in Dutch genre scenes of
the 1650s, 1660s, and early 1670s has been discarded, revealing a
sumptuous and vaguely historicizing mélange of silky garments more inkeeping with fashions of the late 1670s. In both paintings, the emphasis on
the classical architecture, the overt luxury of the costumes and accessories,
and above all the cool perfection of Van der Neer’s technique reflect thetaste for “French” elegance and refinement that spread throughout theNetherlands during the last quarter of the seventeenth century.

- Marjorie E. Wieseman, 2017

© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Lady Playing a Lute in an Interior
Page 5 of 9Endnotes

1. Eddy Schavemaker, Eglon van der Neer (1635/36–1703): His Life and His Work (Doornspijk,2010), nos. 46, 57, 73.
2. On the complicated development of lute variants in the Renaissance and baroque periods,
see Robert Spencer, “Chitarrone, Theorbo, and Archlute,” Early Music 4 (October 1976):
408–22; and on their representation in the visual arts, Mariagrazia Carlone, “Lutes, Archlutes,Theorboes in Iconography,” Music in Art 30, nos. 1–2 (2005): 88–96.
3. Michael Praetorius, Syntagma Musicum II: De Organographia (Wolfenbüttel, 1619; English
translation by David Z. Crookes, Oxford, 1991), 52. The two-headed lute is commonlydescribed as a theorbo; however, on the theorbo the bass strings are carried by a more
extended neck.
4. The print shows the instrument in reverse. For a recent discussion of the image, see
Stephanie Dickey, in Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., ed., Jan Lievens: A Dutch Master
Rediscovered (Exh. cat. Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art; Milwaukee, Milwaukee Art
Museum; Amsterdam, Museum Het Rembrandthuis) (New Haven, 2008), 207.
5. See, among other studies: Eric Jan Sluijter, “‘Een stuck waerin een jufr: Voor de spiegel van
Gerrit Douw,’” Antiek 23 (1988): 150–61.
6. Among the many publications on musical symbolism in seventeenth-century Dutch painting,see Roy Sonnema, “Representations of Music in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Art” (Ph.D.
diss., University of California, Berkeley, 1990); and Edwin Buijsen, Louis Peter Grijp, et al.,The Hoogsteder Exhibition of Music and Painting in the Golden Age (Exh. cat. The Hague,
Hoogsteder & Hoogsteder; Antwerp, Hessenhuis Museum) (The Hague, 1994). Specificallyon the lute as an erotic symbol, see Eddy de Jongh, “Realisme en schiknrealisme in deHollandse schilderkunst van de zeventiende eeuw,” in Rembrandt en zijn tijd (Exh. cat.
Brussels, Musée des Beaux Arts de Belgique) (Brussels, 1971), 178.
7. Eddy Schavemaker, Eglon van der Neer (1635/36–1703): His Life and His Work (Doornspijk,2010), nos. 57, 73, 46, and 83, respectively; for additional examples see nos. 38, 39, and 61.
Besides inventing new iterations of a theme, Van der Neer also made adjustments tocompositions as he worked: for example, he changed the position of the musician’s head in
A Woman Playing the Lute (Berlin); see Eddy Schavemaker, in Jeroen Giltaij et al., Sensesand Sins: Dutch Painters of Daily Life in the Seventeenth Century (Exh. cat. Rotterdam,Museum Boijmans van Beuningen; Frankfurt, Städelsches Kunstinstitut und StädtischeGalerie) (Hatje Cantz, 2004), 270.

© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Lady Playing a Lute in an Interior
Page 6 of 9ProvenanceCount Eduard Aleksander Raczy?ski (1847–1926), Ragolin, Poz?an, Poland, by 1912.
(Possibly sale, Christie’s, London, 21 July 1933, no. 143 [to Lacy for 7 gns.]).
[Xaver Scheidwimmer, Munich, 1959].
Baroness Aida Nora von dem Bussche-Streithorst (her sale, Christie’s, New York, 6 April
2006, no. 46); [Johnny van Haeften Ltd., London, 2006].
From whom acquired by the present owner in 2006.

Exhibition History
Rome, Scuderie del Quirinale, “Vermeer: Il secolo d’oro dell’arte olandese,” 27 September
2012–20 January 2013, no. 35 [lent by the present owner].
Dallas, Dallas Museum of Art, “Vermeer Suite: Music in 17th-Century Dutch Painting,” 17January 2016–21 August 2016 [lent by the present owner].
Beijing, National Museum of China, “Rembrandt and His Time: Masterpieces from The
Leiden Collection,” 17 June–3 September 2017 [lent by the present owner].
Shanghai, Long Museum, West Bund, “Rembrandt, Vermeer and Hals in the Dutch Golden
Age: Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection,” 23 September 2017–25 February 2018 [lentby the present owner].
Moscow, The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, “The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer:
Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection,” 28 March 2018–22 July 2018 [lent by the presentowner].
St. Petersburg, The State Hermitage Museum, “The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer:
Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection,” 5 September 2018–13 January 2019 [lent by thepresent owner].
Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu Dhabi, “Rembrandt, Vermeer and the Dutch Golden Age.
Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection and the Musée du Louvre,” 14 February–18 May
2019 [lent by the present owner].

References
Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch
Painters of the Seventeenth Century Based on the Work of John Smith. Edited and translated© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Lady Playing a Lute in an Interior
Page 7 of 9by Edward G. Hawke, 8 vols. London, 1907–28, 5:493, no. 73. Originally published as
Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten holländischen
Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts. 10 vols. Esslingen and Paris, 1907–28.
“Willkommen in München.” Die Weltkunst 29 (15 October 1959): 3.
Brochhagen, Ernst, and Brigitte Knüttel. Katalog der Alte Pinakothek, III: Holländische Malerei
des 17. Jahrhunderts. Munich, 1967, 48, under no. 204.
Bernt, Walther. Die niederländischen Maler und Zeichner des 17. Jahrhunderts. 2 vols.
Munich, 1980, 2:54, no. 900.
Schavemaker, Eddy. “Dame, eine Theorbe stimmend.” In Vom Adel der Malerei: Holland um
1700. Edited by Ekkehard Mai et al., 232, under no. 63. Exh. cat. Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz
Museum; Dordrecht, Dordrechts Museum; Kassel, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, SchlossWilhelmshohe. Cologne, 2006.
Schavemaker, Eddy. Eglon van der Neer (1635/36–1703): His Life and His Work. Doornspijk,
2010, 477, no. 63.
Wieseman, Marjorie E. “Donna che suona la tiorba in un interno.” In Vermeer: Il secolo d’oro
dell’arte olandese. Edited by Sandrina Bandera, Walter Liedtke, and Arthur K. Wheelock Jr.,
178–81, no. 35. Exh. cat. Rome, Scuderie del Quirinale. Milan, 2012.
Aono, Junko. Confronting the Golden Age: Imitation and Innovation in Dutch Genre Painting.
Amsterdam, 2015, 29, no. 4.
Yeager-Crasselt, Lara. “Rembrandt and His Time: China and the Dutch Republic in theGolden Age.” In Rembrandt and His Time: Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection. Editedby Lara Yeager-Crasselt, 10; 15, no. 68. Translated by Li Ying. Exh. cat. Beijing, National
Museum of China. Beijing, 2017
McCarthy, Alexa. “Lady Playing a Lute in an Interior.” In Rembrandt and His Time:Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection. Edited by Lara Yeager-Crasselt, 156–57; 189, no.
68. Translated by Li Ying. Exh. cat. Beijing, National Museum of China. Beijing, 2017.
Wang, Jia. “Dutch Painting in Golden Age.” In Journal of National Museum of China 169, no.
8 (2017): 39.
Long Museum, West Bund. Rembrandt, Vermeer and Hals in the Dutch Golden Age:
Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection. Exh. cat. Shanghai, Long Museum, West Bund.
Shanghai, 2017, 170–71.
McCarthy, Alexa. “Lady Playing a Lute in an Interior.” In The Age of Rembrandt andVermeer: Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection. Edited by Polina Lyubimova, 148–49; 240,
no. 38. Translated by Daria Babich and Daria Kuzina. Exh. cat. Moscow, The Pushkin StateMuseum of Fine Arts; St. Petersburg, The State Hermitage Museum. Moscow, 2018.
Yeager-Crasselt, Lara. “The Leiden Collection and the Dutch Golden Age.” In Rembrandt,Vermeer and the Dutch Golden Age. Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection and the© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Lady Playing a Lute in an Interior
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Musée du Louvre. Edited by Blaise Ducos and Lara Yeager-Crasselt, 30. Exh. cat. Abu
Dhabi, Louvre Abu Dhabi. London, 2019. [Exhibition catalogue also published in French andArabic.]
Ducos, Blaise, and Lara Yeager-Crasselt, eds. Rembrandt, Vermeer and the Dutch GoldenAge. Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection and the Musée du Louvre. Exh. cat. Abu
Dhabi, Louvre Abu Dhabi. London, 2019, 163, no. 82. [Exhibition catalogue also published inFrench and Arabic.]

Versions
Versions and Copies
Eglon van der Neer, Lady Tuning a Lute, 1678, oil on panel, 42.5 x 36.7 cm, Alte Pinakothek,Munich, inv. 204.

Technical Summary
The support, a rectangular-shaped composite panel comprising two planks of vertically grained
oak, has a horizontal panel join near the upper edge and a vertical wood shim along the leftedge.[1] The panel is unthinned and uncradled, and has bevels on all four sides. A light-colored,radio-opaque priming has been applied to the reverse, and a red wax seal and an ink inscription
have been applied over the priming. Two horizontal battens were removed sometime after thepriming was applied, and an additional light-colored priming was applied locally to the wood thatwas exposed when the battens were removed and to the narrow horizontal plank along the upperedge. Machine tool marks visible beneath the light-colored coating along the right edge appear tocontinue across the panel reverse. There is a red wax collection seal and four handwritten
inscriptions, but no import stamps, stencils, labels or panel maker’s marks are visible.
A light-colored ground has been thinly and evenly applied. The paint has been thinly and smoothly
applied with areas of low brushmarking and transparent glazing but no use of impasto, although
the contours of the forms are slightly raised.
No underdrawing is readily apparent in infrared images captured at 780–1000 nanometers. Minor
compositional changes are visible. The thumb of the figure’s proper right hand has been shifted
closer to the index finger; the drapery originally hung along the background to the figure’s rightand was tied back behind her proper left shoulder; the sleeve along the figure’s proper leftshoulder and forearm has been shifted; and an ornamental element along the lower end of thepilaster to the right of the figure has been painted out in the final composition although a similar© 2020 The Leiden CollectionPowered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

Lady Playing a Lute in an Interior
Page 9 of 9element is present further up the pilaster.
The painting was cleaned and restored in 2006. It is in excellent condition, with minimal abrasion
along the figure’s proper left shoulder and along the lower edge of her dress, and is in an
excellent state of preservation.

Technical Summary Endnotes

1. The characterization of the wood is based on visual examination only.

© 2020 The Leiden Collection