The lute was exactly that - a symbol familial harmony, even in the hands
of whores in Dutch paintings, where is was meant so - sarcastically.
RT
On 11/24/2015 9:38 AM, AJN wrote:
There are paintings of the interiors of artists' studios that show
props used in pictures:
busts, skulls, ornate chairs, drapes and sometimes (iirc) musical
instruments. Such
props are even listed in tax inventories, I understand.
Art historians have traced some from painting to painting, e.g., an
ornate three-leg chair.
Instruments might serve, as perhaps is the case in this painting,
as symbols of the harmonious nature of love. The over reaction of the
sitters in
this painting recalls, at least to me, the depictions of various
emotions illustrated in old treatises on acting.
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