Since I was asked by my friend about the picture on the flyer of our upcoming concert, here is all about it.
It’s ‘The Concert’ by Gerrit (Gerard) van Honthorst (1592-1656), a Dutch Golden Age painter.
Musicians are happily singing and playing a violin, a violone(?), a lute and a cittern, sit around the part books on the table, and listeners behind them are also having a great time, especially the drunken person in the middle(!)
Early in his career Honthorst visited Rome, and was hugely influenced by the style of Caravaggio. After his return to Holland, he became known for his depiction of artificially lit scenes, eventually receiving the nickname Gherardo delle Notti (“Gerard of the nights”).
As you could clearly see in ‘The Matchmaker’, his use of Chiaroscuro, the strong contrasts between light and shade, can emerge each character’s facial expressions more dramatically and stretch viewers imagination. Look an acquisitive smile on the guy on the left!
Honthorst was a leading portrait painter and left many portraits of musicians with string instruments, especially women with guitar family and men with violin.
Often those violinists are drunk and merry with a glass of wine.
‘The Happy Fiddler’ is my favourite one which I revisited many times in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
On July 4th Sunday, you can hear ‘merry’ tunes played on violin and theorbo by Asuka and Johan, both hopefully not drunk (!), while enjoying beautiful paintings including the Honthorst on a big projection screen!
Visit the ‘What’s On’ page to know more about our concert!
www.otleybaroque.com/whats-on
Otley Baroque 