Allegory of Music

This is one of a series of half-length female figures of the seven Liberal Arts which once belonged to Gédéon Tallemant (1613-1668), one of the counselors of King Louis XIII, apparently painted for his house in the Rue d'Angoumois, Paris. The pictures vary in size, and all are dated 1649 or 1650. The Liberal Arts were the literary trio, Grammar, Rhetoric and Dialectic, and the mathematical quartet of Arithmetic, Music, Geometry and Astronomy.

The allegorical figure of Music tunes a theorbo. At her shoulder is a songbird, symbol of natural music, whereas by contrast she may be a representation of modern music theory and practice. To the right are various contemporary instruments and scores: a lute, a violin, two recorders, a vocal exercise, and a song in two parts. This canvas was originally flanked by two music-making putti (now in the Musée Magnin, Dijon).

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 14 minutes): George Frideric Handel: Concerto for harp, lute and theorbo in B flat major