>From: "Craig Allen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >That all having been said I still don't know why the player would leave the >dagger where it is and if this was just license on the part of the artist. If >it were me I would move the dagger out of the way so as not to damage the >lute. I do this with belts just so the buckle won't scratch it. Daggers >weren't always worn in front (if you've ever worn a long dagger or sword you >know that this can be rather cumbersome). Sometimes, and you'll see this in >much art of the period (a scene from the Tres Riche Heurs du Duc d'Berri comes >to mind), a dagger is worn at the back, or between the loops of a belt pouch >on the side or at the back.
And Katherine added. >There are lots of renaissance pictures of people >playing lutes while standing up without any sign of a >strap. Does anyone do this? Any ideas on how - or if - >it could be done? > >I'm not having a go at strap-users; I'm just a bit >puzzled - I have enough trouble keeping the thing in >place when I'm sitting down. Folks, let's remember that these are art works, not photographs. And, there are times when even a photograph isn't a photograph. The painting does not necessarily give you an accurate depiction of how people held their instruments / positioned themselves and their clothing / combined instruments in performance etc. etc. It's quite possible that Israel van Mechenem put the dagger where it is because he was making an explicit point (no pun intended) about the relationship between the man and the woman. Yes, it's an accurate depiction of a bollocks dagger. It is also potentially a visual symbol which contemporaries would have recognized immediately, *especially* if that was not the position the dagger would have normally been placed in when sitting down to play. There are plenty of pictures which show situations that are obviously not realistic. Brueghel's "The Hay Wain" does not tell us that hay rides were a popular custom in the 16th century. In this case the interplay of realism and symbolism is subtler. As to photographs not being photographs: A campaign photo is not a news photo. A historical movie is not a history. I once got and published in the LSA Newsletter a publicity photograph of the London Serpent Trio posed in galoshes and sitting ankle-deep in a little stream. 500 years from now, will someone look at that picture to determine how the Trio performed in reality? Caroline **************************************** Caroline Usher DCMB Administrative Coordinator 613-8155, Room B343 LSRC Mailing address: Box 91000, Duke University, Durham NC 27708 To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html