Having lived in the 6-course world for a while now I'm very interested in the left lute in this painting by Montagna: http://www.xs4all.nl/~amarin/Page1-Pages/Image198.html http://www.xs4all.nl/~amarin/Page1-Pages/Image199.html
It appears M. tried to be very realistic in the proportions, colors and detail and I think there may be enough information in it to actually build a copy. Granted we don't know the string length or the back shape but some of this could be educatedly guessed at. Has anyone had a lute built in this shape (or built one) and if so what are your conclusions? Might it make a good F or A lute? (I'm set for G) Are there any surving lutes, complete or not, that might suggest a precedent for this triangular, wide-belly shape? By the by, some have rumored to have seen a plectrum in this painting but in the detail, I honestly don't see it. Granted this is a ficticious concert (angels, etc), and while the weight lately has been to give most lute playing in this era a pick of some kind (or to one of the players), I don't see the plectrum support in this instance. On the other hand, so to speak, I see support for playing 15th century music in the same polyphonic way as the next. Fascinating right hand technique on the blond plucker, too. And my thanks to Alfonso for posting this page of lute iconography. Here's the rest of it: http://www.xs4all.nl/~amarin/Page1.html all the best, Sean Smith To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
