Girl with a Flute

The Young Girl with a Flute is the only painting on panel....other than Girl with a Red Hat. Owing also to similarities in scale and subject matter, scholars frequently cited these works as pendants. Indeed, both girls look expectantly towards the viewer with eyes alert and half-open mouths. Each wears an exotic hat, sits before a tapestry in a chair with lion finials, and leans on one arm. Light enters from the left in both compositions, striking the left cheek, nose, and chin of both figures. A thin green glaze pulled over the flesh tone, moreover, indicates the shaded positions of both faces. Finally, colored highlights accent each mouth, turquoise in Young Girl with a Flute and pink in The Girl with a Red Hat.

Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., Johannes Vermeer, 1981

No signature appears on this work.

c. 1665-1670
Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. Vermeer: The Complete Works, New York, 1997)

c. 1665-1670
Walter Liedtke Vermeer: The Complete Paintings, New York, 2008)

The vertically grained oak panel support has beveled edges on the back. The panel has a slight convex warp, a small check in the top edge at the right, and small gouges, rubs, and splinters on the back from nails and handling. A very thin, smooth; white chalk ground was applied overall, followed by a course textured gray ground. A reddish-brown dead coloring exists under most areas of the painting and is incorporated in the design of the tapestry.

Paint is applied moderately thinly, forming a rough surface texture in lighter passages. Still wet paint in the proper right cheek and chin was textured with a fingertip, then glazed with a translucent green half-tone. In many areas of the whites, particularly in the proper left collar and cuff, a distinctive wrinkling is present, which disturbs the surface. Small irregularly shaped losses over much of the surface may have resulted from abrasion to similar wrinkles that occurred during old restorations.

* Johannes Vermeer (exh. cat., National Gallery of Art and Royal Cabinet of Paintings Mauritshuis - Washington and The Hague, 1995, edited by Arthur Wheelock)

literature

exhibitions

Shepherd Holding a Flute
Jan van Bijlert
1630-35
79 x 65 cm
Private collection

In classical times, stringed instruments were held in highest regards. The cithara, for example, was noble enough to be dedicated to Apollo, while the flute was dedicated to Dionysius because of his associations with drunkenness and orgies. Therefore, it was considered the most primitive of musical instruments and to a good extent, this view prevailed until the 17th century.

From its appearance in shepherd portraits and Dutch genre works, the flute may seem to have been little more than a decorative attribute, easily depicted. It plays well in both the tranquil domestic scene and the shabby open-air tavern. However, in the 17th century, the recorder had become more than a plaything: it was but one musical instrument amongst others, sometimes improved by the work of professional instrument-makers, heard by a varied audience, and played by both dedicated amateurs and professional musicians such as Jacob van Eyck.

Man in Oriental Dress
Frans van Mieris
1665
149.9 x 11.2 cm
Picture Gallery of Prince Willem V, The Hague

The Girl with a Flute is a perfect example of a tronie, an obsolete term that refers to a type of picture made familiar by Rembrandt and his followers. Tronies were based upon living models, including the artists themselves, relatives or colleagues. However, they were not intended as formal portraits but were kept on spec in the artist's studio ready to stimulate the potential buyer's appetite. An old man, a comely young woman, a "Turk," or a dashing soldier were all standard tronies subjects. Artists favored garments that looked particularly exotic offering the opportunity to experiment and show off painterly technique, one of the strongest calling cards of the professional artist. Tronies, usually small scale in dimension and price, were a very popular sub in the Netherlands and were avidly collected.

The self portrait by Frans van Mieris (see left), one of the most successful artists in the Netherlands, displays in unequivocal manner the showy attributes of the Dutch tronie.

Vermeer is known to have painted three tronies in all, one of which, the famous Girl with a Pearl Earring. They were sold for modest prices in his life time.

Jacob Van Eyck, one of the most remarkable figures in Dutch musical life during the Golden Age: a nobleman, blind from birth, widely known as a carillonneur, leading expert in the field of bell casting and tuning, was admired as a brilliant recorder virtuoso. His demanding solo variations, preludes and fantasias from Der Fluyten Lust-hof (The Flute's Garden of Delight) are both loved and feared by recorder players today, all over the world.

It is said that Van Eyck used to improvise in the garden adjacent to the Sint Janskerk in Utrecht, entertaining by-passers and romancing young couples alike. Someone then must have listened his way through and transcribed what corresponds to almost ten hours of music, very much the way many a jazz musician still work today. The apparent popularity of van Eyck's music caused his publisher Paul Matthysz to edit several collections in van Eyck's lifetime. One can only imagine the troublesome procedures foregoing a publication of this kind, as the author couldn't write himself. Der Fluyten Lust-hof is an outstanding proof of a craft which is today a sadly neglected art form. To improvise was the true core of all music long before the invention of musical notation.

With about 150 pieces Der Fluyten Lust-hof is the largest solo collection for one single instrument ever printed. Van Eyck's output consists mainly of sets of variations on tunes that were popular during the Dutch Golden Age. Its themes are as diverse as Calvinist psalms, dances, the hits of the day and lewd songs.

For centuries, this kind of music belonged to the repertoire of an instrument of ancient origin which was played at the courts, in the streets, churches, brothels and pubs: the recorder. The work gives us a rare insight into the musical world of the late renaissance and the early baroque with its intricate and abundant use of variation techniques.

Even though Vermeer often retraced his steps and produced couples of work that are closely related in style or subject, there exists no objective proof that any of these works were meant as true pendants intended to be hung side by side. Plausible candidates for a pendant, however, must be the present work and the Girl with a Red Hat (see images left). They are both done on panel and are of similar dimension. Moreover, they both portray a similar young, opened-mouth girl wearing an astounding hat which projects upon each a soft shadow over her eyes and a pair of oversized drop pearl earrings. They both sit on a Spanish chair hovering in front of an anonymous tapestry peering out directly at the viewer from an evocative penumbra. Furthermore, the best passages of each work are comparable in style and delicacy although the Girl with a Flute is in far from perfect condition and presents numerous inept retouches.

The most obvious argument against the pendant is that the Girl with a Flute does not present the overall exceptional pictorial quality as its counterpart. However, scientific examination reveals that the inconsistencies can largely be attributed to a very poor state of conservation of the Girl with a Flute and the possibility that the work was left unfinished.

"Engels Lied"("English Song") [1.82 MB]
from Jacob van Eyck, Der Fluyten Lust-Hof

performed by Marion Verbruggen
http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Verbruggen-Marion.htm

Soprano recorder in c, after the transitional
instrument by Richard Haka
(Amsterdam, mid-17th century),
designed by Philippe Bolton.
This instrument, also known as "Handfluyt" or
"Van Eyck"-recorder, is particularly suitable for
playing Jacob van Eyck's music and the 17th century
Italian repertoire.

The prehistoric ancestors of the recorder, rather whistles for far-distance communication as well as for cultic occasions (e.g. ritual dances, calling spirits) and made of bones, ivory or wood, can be traced back to thousands of years. Probably the earliest specimen of a recorder- resp. flute-like instrument, dated c. 39,000(!) years old, has recently been detected in a cavern in southwest Germany (see report http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8117915.stm ) and thus may be the oldest musical instrument known to us until today. Portrayals of wind instruments ("pipes") which may be recorders, appear in medieval sculptures, carvings and paintings from the 11th century to the 14th century.

During the 15th and 16th century the recorder developed into the "Renaissance"-form and was produced in many sizes for consorts, blending easily with each other in "whole" consorts (consorts of recorders) or contrasting well with other period instruments ("broken" consorts) or voices. The first professional use of recorders is documented towards 1500 as one of the regular instruments of professional wind players, along with shawm, cornett, sackbut and sometimes trumpet. In 16th century Venice the "pifferi" (pipers) of the Doge played recorders as well as other instruments for the large processions of the Scuola di S Marco.

Due to its relative easiness in playing (already practiced by children as evident in numerous Dutch 17th -century paintings) the recorder became very popular also by amateur musicians of all classes, including even royal and other noble households, as evident from their inventories listing vast quantities of wind instruments. Kind Henry VIII of England owned no less than 76 recorders.

The most famous player of the 17th century was no doubt the blind born Jacob van Eyck, composer of Der fluyten lust-hof (Amsterdam 1646-49), the largest collection of music ever published for a solo wind instrument by a single composer.

With the change of the musical taste in the late 16th and 17th century the recorder was completely redesigned for use as a solo instrument. It was now made in three pieces allowing a more accurate boring and had a fully chromatic range of two octaves. This new "Baroque recorder" produced an intense, reedy and penetrating sound of great carrying power and expressivity, therefore best suited for performing chamber music and even solo concerti. It remained a highly esteemed and popular instrument until the late 18th /early 19th century and after a period of decline until our days.

The essential feature of the recorder is the head with the internal plug ("block," hence the German name "Blockflöte"), leaving the windway (duct) to lead the player's breath to a rigid sharp edge or "lip" (voicing edge) at the base of the mouth ("labium").

The recorder has holes for seven fingers (the lower one or two often doubled to facilitate the production of semitones) and a single hole for the thumb on the back side which also serves as an octaving vent. A recorder consort usually consists of the "descant" or "soprano," the "treble" or "alto," the tenor and the bass instrument. Sopranino and great bass instruments are also fairly common.

The Artist's Bride of Three Days (detail)
Rembrandt van Rijn
Silverpoint on prepared vellum, 18.5 x 10.7 cm
Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett

In contemporary French and Dutch language the word "hat" could be used as a metaphor for a man while "coif" denoted a woman.

Women were largely discouraged from wearing the broad felt hats that men wore in public until the mid 1600s when it had become more acceptable. Fashionable young women in Holland occasionally wore feathered hats during promenades to the country or seaside as a special protection against exposure to the sun.

On the other hand, wide-brimmed straw hats were worn by women everywhere in Europe of all classes. They had the same protective function as more expensive hats and must have had a charming effect on men. In painting they were often associated with country life.

The kind of hat worn by the woman in this painting bby Vermeer is something out of the ordinary and was painted just for that reason.

The prominent role that music played in Dutch society was supported by the Dutch educational system which was probably the best in Europe at the time. Primary schools were available to all social classes and could be found in almost every village. Although the major focus was on reading, writing, arithmetic and Scriptures, music was sometimes offered as a supplemental instruction. At the secondary level, musical instruction was given to boys aged nine to seventeen. At Latin School, present in every major town, music instruction was continued and musical theory was introduced at the gymnasium (grammar school). However, serious study of music required a professional instructor. Lower-class children could earn their keep by assisting the master.

Other than giving musical lessons, other opportunities were available to aspiring musicians. Larger Dutch towns employed stadspeellieden (municipal musicians) who primarily played string or wind instruments. Their duties varied but the inevitably received little pay.

What was Vermeer's musical education like? As the only son of an innkeeper Vermeer grew up in taverns where drinking, smoking, business, cavorting and music-making all meshed together amid pictures from his father's art trade. Furthermore, music seems to have had some place in his family.

The stepfather of Vermeer's father Reynier, Nicolaes ("Claes") Corstiaensz. van der Minne, was a professional musician, a so-called speelman, aside from being a taylor. We know that Nicolaes had played on the occasions of public festivities or whenever he was called on. He possessed various instruments, and it is probable that Nicolaes had instructed his son to play some kind of musical instrument, perhaps a flute. Thus, Reynier grew up in a musical family. It would be only logical to suppose that he imparted to his own two children Gertruy and Johannes a hearty sense of enjoyment for music common to the Dutch people at large. Although there is no proof, it is enticing to believe that his family musical connections have something to do with the elevated number of musical themes he painted.