Concert

Vittore Carpaccio

Summary

A reproduction produced by the Vasari Society of a picture by Vittore Carpaccio. The image shows four figures positioned behind a table or ledge, three of whom are playing musical instruments. There are two figures on either side of the composition and they are all turned towards the centre. On the right side the two figures are standing, the one against the right edge is playing a stringed instrument with a bow, which he holds in his right arm, and the other figure is playing a mandolin with the neck of the instrument pointing towards the right of the composition. At the far left stands a man in a monks' habit with a long beard; he observes the scene with his arms folded. To the centre left is a seated figure with a mandolin. The neck of this instrument also points towards the right of the composition and the man appears to be using his left hand to turn the pegs and tune the strings. In the background at the top of the composition is a shelf, which runs around the top of the room. On this shelf are vases and boxes, and below the shelf hangs a violin, a bow and a tambourine. On the ledge in front of the figures are two objects that look like paper scrolls. The original image was done in pen and wash. Text from the accompanying booklet produced by the Vasari Society: "No. 8 VITTORE CARPACCIO (Worked in Venice, 1480-1522) CONCERT British Museum, 1895-9-15-806. From the Lely, Richardson, Holditch, Ottley, Lawrence and Malcolm Collections. Pen and bistre with bistre wash on grey paper. 18.7 x 27.9 cm. (7 3/8 x 11 in.) This charming drawing of the interior of a music-room, with two women and a young girl playing on stringed instruments and a monk or friar looking on, is exceptional in the artist's work and shows the growing influence of Giorgione and his school in Venetian art. On the back of the same sheet (not reproduced) is a small pen-and-ink drawing of a writer or draughtsman at work at his desk in front of the barred window of a room fitted with shelves for mathematical instruments, etc. S.C."