Dear Monica,
There are two separate issues here, the lute and pegbox itself are
rather odd and dubious and I suspect Watteau didn't really care.
The position of the hand is a separate matter and it seems entirely
possible to me. To demonstrate, I've just taken a photo posed in the
same way as much as possible in the short time you have with a self
timer!
http://www.vanedwards.co.uk/Watteaupose.htm
It was extra awkward because the half-completed student lute had no
pegs so I've held one with thumb and first finger. Had there been a
peg it would have been possible to turn it!
Best wishes,
David
At 17:32 +0100 17/7/20, Monica Hall wrote:
I still don't get it!
Neither picture seems to make sense to me even when put side to
side. In the Lute player the back view of the instrument is shown
but the peg box is skewed to the front. The peg box is curved and
the pegs inserted laterally.
In the Theorbo player the back view of the instrument is shown and
the lower peg box is in line with the neck but the upper peg box is
skewed to the front.
With your left arm stretched out it is almost impossible to get your
hand into the position shown. And where is his right arm. Normally
you would be plucking the string to hear if it were in tune.
Monica
On 17 July 2020 at 12:12 David Van Edwards <da...@vanedwards.co.uk> wrote:
Dear Monica,
There's another related Watteau painting in the Wallace collection
(Pour nous prouver que cette belle) showing the same hand in much
more detail. Different instrument so the pegbox is a bit narrower and
that maybe makes the hand more possible. But the brushwork here shows
that Watteau clearly enjoyed the extreme muscularity and effort of
the fingers which is such a contrast to the languid feeling of the
rest of the painting. These fingers are in many ways the focal point
of the painting and the difficulty is the message.
I think the other commenters are right, it is the two middle fingers
holding up the pegbox while the first finger and thumb turn the peg.
The little finger meanwhile is curled up with the effort.
You can see it here thanks to the ArtUK collection.
>
https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/pour-nous-prouver-que-cette-belle-209396/view_as/grid/search/keyword:pour-nous-prouver-que-cette-belle/page/1#
Best wishes,
David
At 10:50 +0100 17/7/20, Monica Hall wrote:
>"Les charmes de la vie" is a well-known painting by Watteau in the
>Wallace Collection. You just need to put in the title "Les charmes
>de la vie" to bring up several examples of it.
>
>However, what puzzles me is the odd position of his left arm and
>hand which seem to me to be anatomically impossible. It looks as if
>his fingers are stopping the back of the neck. Even if he was tuning
>it it couldn't be like that. What do the rest of you think. Am I
>missing somthing crucial?
>
>As ever
>
>Monica
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>
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England.
Telephone: + 44 (0)1603 629899
> Website: http://www.vanedwards.co.uk
--
The Smokehouse,
6 Whitwell Road,
Norwich, NR1 4HB
England.
Telephone: + 44 (0)1603 629899
Website: http://www.vanedwards.co.uk
