Dirck van Baburen is considered one of the most progressive painters in post-1620 Utrecht art. He lived and worked in Italy from around 1615 to 1621. His first known work following his return to Utrecht is Young man with Jew’s harp. The painting is dated 1621 and, along with the Flute player by Abraham Bloemaert and the two flute players painted by Hendrick ter Brugghen, it belongs to the earliest known northern Netherlandish examples of a musician portrayed as a half-figure. The Jew’s harp otherwise never occurs among the Caravaggist painters of Utrecht. The youth’s posture is typical when playing this instrument: it is pressed against the lips with the left hand while the index finger of the right hand vibrates the metal tongue, which is bent into a right angle at the end. The mouth cavity serves as sound box. The idea of depicting a musician by himself and as a half-figure derives from Caravaggio (1571-1610) and his successors. Since Bloemaert never travelled to Italy, he must have picked up the theme through others. The honour of having introduced the genre in northern Europe falls to his pupil Baburen, or possibly to Ter Brugghen as well. The theme became highly popular, not only in Utrecht but also in other towns like Haarlem and Leiden. Frans Hals, for example, painted his famous Jester with a lute around the year 1623. Young man with Jew’s harp is an intimate, almost sultry painting, with all the typical Caravaggist features. A canvas-filling young musician with bare shoulder, wearing a dashing beret with feathers. He is illuminated indirectly by a smoky candle behind the fluttering music pages he is playing from. The suggestive shadow of the ear of the chamberstick on the crumpled music page is a sophisticated demonstration of mastership. This is Baburen at his best.
Title
Jongen met mondharp
Artist
Dirck van Baburen (Wijk bij Duurstede ca. 1595 - 1624 Utrecht)
Dating
1621
Material and technique
Object number
11188
Object type
Acquisition
aankoop 1953
Dimensions
hoogte 65 cm
breedte 52 cm
hoogte (met lijst) 84 cm
breedte (met lijst) 70.7 cm
diepte 4.5 cm
Inscriptions and markings
- signatuur en datering r.b. (met verf): TBaburen fecit // An° 1621 (TB aaneen / signatuur opgehaald)
More of the same motive
Remarks
Tot 1999 (publicatie van de coll. cat. Schilderkunst tot 1850) was de titel 'Jongen met mondtrommel' (germanisme) of 'Jongen met mondtrom' (Vlaamse term).
Documentation
- Caravage à Rome : amis et ennemis, auteurs Arnauld Brejon de Lavergnée ... [et al.], (Collect : kunst & antiekjournaal, 23, 9, winter 2018), 32-37
Exhibitions
- Collectieopstelling 2023 - zaal 05, Centraal Museum
- Double Act : Meesterwerken in verf en video, Centraal Museum
- Utrecht, Caravaggio and Europe, Alte Pinakothek
- Utrecht, Caravaggio en Europa, Centraal Museum
- De wereld van Utrecht. Topstukken uit vijf collecties, Centraal Museum
- Paris Tableau, Palais Brongniart
- Dit is het Centraal Museum! Topstukken uit de vijf collecties, Centraal Museum
- ShadowDance, Kunsthal KAdE
- Utrechters dromen van Rome, Centraal Museum
- Dipingere la musica. Musik in de Malerei des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts, Palais Harrach
- Dipingere la musica. Strumenti in posa nell'arte del Cinque e Seicento, Santa Maria della Pièta
- Masters of Light: Dutch Painters in Utrecht during the Golden Age, The National Gallery
- Masters of Light: Dutch Painters in Utrecht during the Golden Age, The Walters Art Gallery
- Masters of Light: Dutch Painters in Utrecht during The Golden Age, The Palace of the Legion of Honor
- De keuze van Simon Levie : oude meesters uit de collectie van het Centraal Museum Utrecht, Centraal Museum
- Masters of Utrecht : 17-19th century paintings from the collection of Centraal Museum Utrecht, Huis ten Bosch
- Nederlandse meesterwerken uit de Gouden Eeuw, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya (Barcelona)
- Nederlandse meesterwerken uit de Gouden Eeuw, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya (Bilbao)
- Nederlandse meesterwerken uit de Gouden Eeuw, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya (Madrid)
- L'Art et la musique, Galerie des Beaux Arts, Bordeaux
- Keuze uit tien jaar aanwinsten 1951-1961, Centraal Museum
- La découverte de la lumière des Primitifs aux Impressionistes, Palais des Beaux Arts, Bordeaux
- Unbekannte Schönheit, Kunsthaus Zürich
Persistent url
To refer to this object please use the following persistent URL: https://hdl.handle.net/21.12130/collect.1B0501BD-656C-44D7-BE6C-BDFE5F86D071
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