Dear Vance, I am glad too to see this high resolution image of the Holbein lute. As lots of people on the list will know, this is a detail from the much larger painting known as the "The Ambassadors" which is a double portrait of Georges de Selve (bishop of Lavaur) and Jean de Dinteville (French ambassador to the court of Henry VIII). There is an excellent article about the painting and the lute by Stephen Barber & Sandi Harris which I think might be available from the list archives. The painting was cleaned and restored in the 1990's and many details have become much clearer than they were before.
So the painting is not about music specifically and the presence of the lute amongst other musical and scientific instruments and books seems to symbolise both the achievements of the age and the kind of learning that was appropriate to a cultured person. It offers the artist, too the opportunity to show off his virtuosity (that word again!) in paint. Truth to life was very much an essential attribute of Renaissance art - "to hold the mirror up to nature" as Shakespeare has Hamlet put it. Luckily for us it means that we can often regard 16th century paintings as accurate sources of information. This is especially the case when other sources confirm the information - a diagram, for example, in Hans Newsidlers "Ein Newgeordent kunstlich Lautenbuch" of 1536 clearly shows double strand frets just like Holbein's painting. I wish we knew how to make those tiny fret knots that show so clearly in the painting. I have wondered before if they provide evidence of the supposed greater flexibility of the gut they had in those days, as our present day gut does not tie so tightly. I am convinced that the left thumb was used to stop the 6th course of the lute as a normal part of early lute technique, and those tiny knots present much less of an obstacle to the thumb than our modern lumpy knots do. Best wishes, Denys ----- Original Message ----- From: "Vance Wood" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "lute list" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Gernot Hilger" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, October 19, 2003 10:38 AM Subject: Re: fret diameters > Gernot: > > Thank you for posting the picture, most definitely double frets. There are > a couple of more interesting points about the painting. Has anyone > identified the composition open on the table, it seems quite clear and if > accurate it would confirm the accuracy of the double frets, in as much as it > defines the observational skills of the artist. Another interesting point > appears to be a set of calipers. What is the significance of the instrument > in a painting about music if not to demonstrate accuracy? Just a thought. > However, from the art history classes I had in college it was taught that > painters from this period had an almost obsession with, what we would call > photographic, accuracy in their work. > > Vance Wood. > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Gernot Hilger" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "Jon Murphy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Sunday, October 19, 2003 12:20 PM > Subject: Re: fret diameters > > > > Jon, > > > > you are right for quite a number of paintings. With regard to the > > Holbein, you are wrong. Assuming Sean's (who sent me the picture) > > consent I have uploaded it to my webspace. Have a look at: > > > > www.jsbach.mynetcologne.de/ambassadorfrets.jpg (900k!) > > or > > www.jsbach.mynetcologne.de/ambassadorssmall.jpg (38k) > > > > and you'll see what I mean. > > > > Best wishes > > Gernot > > > > Am Sonntag, 19.10.03, um 09:55 Uhr (Europe/Berlin) schrieb Jon Murphy: > > > > > Just a small point on pictures (paintings) of instruments and players. > > > On > > > the whole the painters of the Renaissance weren't exactly > > > photographers, > > > they painted what they wanted to paint - and not as an instrutional > > > manual. > > > We've all seen the paintings with the instruments in impossible > > > positions, > > > why use that art as a detail of the use of the instrument of the > > > period? > > > > > > Best, Jon > > > > > > > > > > > > > >
