Howard- I'm not sure that the iconographic evidence can be dismissed so lightly. The lute was perhaps the principle solo instrument of this period, and both painters and patrons (and even many artists models!) would have known what good lute technique looked like. And some models were also patrons, who had paid good money to be taught by top lute players! It is a problem that the the written lute instructions of this period are vague about LH detail. But it is worth noting that from later periods, where fuller written details of playing technique survive, those details tally remarkably well with the iconographic evidence. A good example would be the way in which the RH directions given by Thomas Mace, are solidly backed up by the pictures, (and resolutely ignored by almost all modern players!).
Best wishes martin On 4 May 2006, at 22:03:22, Howard Posner wrote: > The pictures show that painters' models held lutes that way. I'm not > sure what they tell us about actual players. -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
