Overview
Hendrick ter Brugghen excelled at capturing the rhythms of music in the very way he composed his paintings. In this remarkable image a bagpipe player, seen in strict profile, squeezes the leather bag between his forearms as he blows through the instrument’s pipe and fingers a tune on the chanter. Two large drones, composed of different wooden sections, rest on his bare shoulder. The interlocking rhythms of this ensemble—the broad, round shapes of the musician’s shoulder, beret, and brown bagpipe bag; the flowing patterns of folds in his creamy shirt and taupe robe; the pronounced diagonals of the drones and pipe; and the verticality of the chanter—parallel those of a musical score. Ter Brugghen’s Bagpipe Player should be seen as part of a broad cultural interest in depictions of the idyllic pleasures of country existence, particularly as experienced through music. Ter Brugghen fully embraced this theme in a series of paintings of musicians and singers that capture both the joy and the sensuality of life.
The specific character of this painting, depicting a single, larger-than-life-size musician against a plain grayish ocher background, owes much to the influence of Gerrit van Honthorst (1592–1656) and Dirck van Baburen (c. 1595–1624), Dutch Caravaggist painters who returned to Utrecht from Rome in 1620. They brought with them a new sensuous style appropriate for expressing the idealized concepts of arcadian subject matter that they adapted from paintings by Caravaggio (1571–1610) and his followers. In 1624 Ter Brugghen painted no fewer than five separate compositions devoted to music, featuring not only bagpipe players but also musicians—sometimes singing—who play the lute and the violin. He continued this interest in the years to follow.
Entry
Hendrick ter Brugghen was unparalleled in capturing the rhythms of music, and he did so in the very way he composed his paintings.
Though muted in tonality, the Bagpipe Player is both bold and forceful in its scale and painting techniques. The musician’s larger-than-life-size form fills the picture plane, his passion for his music reflected in the energy of Ter Brugghen’s sure, broad brushstrokes, which flow across the canvas. The numerous adjustments the artist made in the folds of the shirt and robe, as well as in the shape of the bagpipes, indicate the freedom with which he approached his subject.
The bagpipe player is a muscular, rough-hewn type, hardly an ideal of grace and refinement. His head is large, his nose is round, and he sports a shepherd’s mustache and beard. His hands and knuckles are thick, yet from the manner in which he fingers the chanter, leaving the vent hole uncovered, it is clear that he is adept at playing the instrument. The same feeling is evoked in a second depiction of the bagpipe player, also dated 1624
Bagpipes were traditionally viewed as folk instruments, played at country dances or by herdsmen and shepherds whiling away their time. These types of portrayals were common throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, appearing in the works of
Bagpipes were often included in these odes to pastoral life, which may help explain the appeal of paintings of musicians for aristocratic patrons during the early to mid-seventeenth century.
The specific character of Bagpipe Player—a single, larger-than-life-sized musician shown against a plain grayish ocher background—owes much to the influence of
Even though Ter Brugghen had been in Italy earlier and presumably had seen some of Caravaggio’s paintings of musicians, these additional pictorial sources probably inspired his initial foray into this subject matter in 1621, when he painted the Flute Player and the Shepherd Flute Player, both now in Kassel.
Similarities in subject matter, style, and size among the canvases have led to the supposition that Ter Brugghen conceived of a number of these paintings as pendants. Indeed, Leonard Slatkes has proposed that the Bagpipe Player has a pendant, the so-called Pointing Lute Player
Even though wind instruments were indeed considered to be less refined and elegant than string instruments
Ter Brugghen’s Bagpipe Player, thus, should be seen as part of a broad cultural interest in the pastoral during the early seventeenth century that evoked the idyllic pleasures of country existence, particularly as experienced through music. Ter Brugghen fully embraced this theme in a series of remarkable paintings of musicians and singers that capture both the joy and the sensuality of life. As with this masterpiece, these engaging images invite us into a world where, through the boldness of the artist’s brush and the rhythms of his forms, we feel the enduring power of music on the human spirit.
Arthur K. Wheelock Jr.
April 24, 2014
Inscription
upper right, in brown paint, HTB in monogram: HTBrugghen fecit 1624
Provenance
Possibly Aernout van Lingen, Utrecht, by 1676.[1] probably with (Glenz, Berlin), in 1915;[2] possibly Gustav Klemperer Edler von Klemenau [1852-1926], Dresden; his son, Dr. Herbert von Klemperer [1878-1951], Berlin;[3] (sale, Lange, Berlin, 18-19 November 1938, no. 151); acquired by Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne, inv. no. 2613; restituted July 2008 to Klemperer's heirs; (sale, Sotheby's, New York, 9 January 2009, no. 40); (Johnny Van Haeften London Ltd., London; Otto Naumann, New York; Bernheimer Fine Art Ltd., Munich); purchased April 2009 by NGA.
Exhibition History
- 1984
- Masters of Seventeenth-Century Dutch Genre Painting, Philadelphia Museum of Art; Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin; Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1984, no. 24, pl. 9 (shown only in Philadelphia and Berlin).
- 2000
- Dipingere la musica: strumenti in posa nell'arte del cinque e seicento, Santa Maria della Pietà, Cremona; Kunsthistorisches Museum at Palais Harrach, Vienna, 2000, no. I.22, repro.
- 2011
- Larger than Life: Ter Brugghen's Saint Sebastian Tended by Irene, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2011, no catalogue.
- 2018
- In the Light of Caravaggio: Dutch and Flemish Paintings from Southeastern Museums, Muscarelle Museum of Art, Williamsburg, 2018, no catalogue.
Technical Summary
The painting was executed on a plain, open-weave fabric, which has been lined. Paper tape covers the edges, making it difficult to determine if the tacking margins are intact, but cusping along all four sides indicates that the painting probably retains its original dimensions. The ground is a fairly thick red layer with large pigment particles. Ter Brugghen applied the oil paint directly, mostly using a wet-into-wet technique. The paint is fairly thin in the background but it is much thicker in the lighter areas and the drapery, especially in the creamy pink shirt. Ground is visible around the edges of the figure indicating that Ter Brugghen left a reserve. He used broad brushstrokes to outline the figure and the folds in the drapery. Examination with visible light, X-radiographs, and infrared reflectography at 1.5 to 1.8 microns[1] revealed numerous changes by the artist in the sitter’s drapery and the bagpipes.
The painting is in good condition. It exhibits some weave enhancement, which was probably caused by too much pressure during the lining. The X-radiographs show a small, triangular loss in the lower left corner in the fabric in the sitter’s gray cloak. The paint bears a broad craquelure in the lighter areas and a finer craquelure in the darks, which is enhanced by some tenting. In addition to paint loss associated with the hole, there is a vertical area of paint loss in the upper left corner, tiny losses along the bottom edge in the right corner, and small losses associated with old stretcher-bar cracks along the top, left, and right sides. The paint is fairly abraded in the background, especially around the word "fecit" in the inscription. The painting was treated in 2009, at which time discolored varnish was removed and the losses and much of the abrasion were inpainted.
[1] Infrared reflectography was performed using a Santa Barbara Focalplane InSb camera fitted with an H astronomy filter.
Bibliography
- 1933
- Schneider, Arthur von. Caravaggio und die Niederländer. 2nd ed. Marburg/Lahn, 1933: 140.
- 1938
- Sammlung B., Wien, die Bestände der Firma Ziffer i. L., Berlin, Porzellan aus der Sammlung R., Wien, Frankfurter und anderer Privatbesitz (zum Teil nichtarisch). Berlin, 1938: 9, no. 151, repro.
- 1939
- Förster, Otto H., ed. Wallraf-Richartz-Museum der Hansestadt Köln. 2 vols. Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch 11. Cologne, 1939: 308.
- 1939
- May, Helmut. "Das Wallraf-Richartz-Museum in Köln." Die Weltkunst 13, nos. 24-25 (June 1939): 1, repro.
- 1939
- Moltke, Joachim Wolfgang von. "Ein unbekanntes Bild von Hendrik Terbrugghen." Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch 11 (1939): 283–285, fig. 208.
- 1941
- May, Helmut. Die Niederländischen, Französischen, Italienischen und Spanischen Gemälde. Wallraf-Richartz-Museum der Hansestadt Köln 2. Cologne, 1941: 133.
- 1954
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- 1955
- Nicolson, Benedict. "Notable Works of Art now on the Market." The Burlington Magazine 97, no. 633 (December 1955): unpaginated, pl. XVIII.
- 1956
- Nicolson, Benedict. "The Rijksmuseum 'Incredulity' and Terbrugghen's Chronology." The Burlington Magazine 98, no. 637 (April 1956): 108, 110.
- 1957
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- 1957
- Wallraf-Richartz-Museum. Führer durch die Gemäldegalerie. Cologne, 1957: 92.
- 1958
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- 1959
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- 1960
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- 1961
- Judson, J. Richard. "Review of Hendrick Terbrugghen by Benedict Nicolson." The Art Bulletin 43 (December 1961): 346.
- 1965
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- 1965
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- 1965
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- 1966
- Osten, Gert von der. Wallraf-Richartz-Museum Köln. Köln, 1966: 15, 62, fig. 237, repro.
- 1966
- Osten, Gert von der. Wallraf-Richartz-Museum Köln. Köln, 1966:15, 62, fig. 237, repro.
- 1967
- Schneider, Arthur von. Caravaggio und die Niederländer. Reprint of 1933 edition. Amsterdam, 1967: 140.
- 1967
- Vey, Horst, and Anna Maria Kesting. Katalog der niederländischen Gemälde von 1550 bis 1800 im Wallraf-Richartz-Museum. Cologne, 1967: 26, fig. 26.
- 1978
- Wright, Christopher. The Dutch Painters: 100 Seventeenth Century Masters. London, 1978: 192.
- 1979
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- 1981
- Wright, Christopher. A golden age of painting: Dutch and Flemish paintings of the seventeenth century from the collection of the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation. San Antonio, 1981: 96.
- 1984
- Brown, Christopher. "Hendrick ter Brugghen." In Von Frans Hals bis Vermeer: Meisterwerke holländischer Genremalerei. Edited by Peter C. Sutton. Exh. cat. Philadelphia Museum of Art Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin; Royal Academy of Arts, London. Berlin, 1984: 130, 131, no. 24, repro.
- 1984
- Sutton, Peter C. Masters of Seventeenth-Century Dutch Genre Painting. Edited by Jane Iandola Watkins. Exh. cat. Philadelphia Museum of Art; Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin; Royal Academy of Arts, London. Philadelphia, 1984: 168, no. 24, pl. 9.
- 1986
- Blankert, Albert, and Leonard J. Slatkes. Nieuw licht op de Gouden Eeuw: Hendrick ter Brugghen en Tijdgenoten. Exh. cat. Centraal Museum, Utrecht; Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Braunschweig. Utrecht, 1986: 113, fig. 79.
- 1986
- Bok, Marten Jan. "Hendrick Jansz. ter Brugghen." In Holländische Malerei in neuem Licht: Hendrick ter Brugghen und seine Zeitgenossen. Edited by Albert Blankert and Leonard J. Slatkes. Exh. cat. Centraal Museum, Utrecht; Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Braunschweig. Braunschweig, 1986: 71.
- 1986
- Hesse, Christian, and Martina Schlagenhaufer, eds. Wallraf-Richartz-Museum Köln, vol. 1: Vollständiges Verzeichnis der Gemäldesammlung, vol. 2: Von Stefan Lochner bis Paul Cézanne: 120 Meisterwerke der Gemäldesammlung. 2 vols. Cologne, 1986: 1:15-16, fig. 285; 2:148-149, color repro.
- 1989
- Nicolson, Benedict. Caravaggism in Europe. 3 vols. Archivi di storia dell'arte. 2nd ed. Turin, 1989: 1:192, no. 129.
- 1990
- Le Bihan, Olivier. L'Or & l'Ombre: catalogue critique et raisonné des peintures hollandaises du dix-septième et du dix-huitième siècles, conservées au Musée des beaux-arts de Bordeaux. Bordeaux, 1990: 73, 74.
- 1991
- Brown, Christopher. Brief Encounters: Ter Brugghen: Jacob reproaching Laban. Exh. cat. National Gallery, London, 1991: unpaginated, repro.
- 1991
- Brown, Christopher. Hendrick ter Brugghen (1588-1629) 'Jakob, Laban und Lea', ein Bild in Vergleich. Exh. cat. Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne, 1991: 5, 14, fig. 9.
- 1993
- Mai, Ekkehard, ed. Das Kabinett des Sammlers: Gemälde vom XV. bis XVII. Jahrhundert. Cologne, 1993: 250.
- 1994
- Huys Janssen, Paul. "Jan van Bijlert (1597/98-1671), schilder in Utrecht." Ph.D. dissertation, Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht, 1994: 166.
- 1996
- Slatkes, Leonard J. "Bringing Ter Brugghen and Baburen Up-to-Date." Bulletin des du Musée National de Varsovie 37 (1996): 210, 212, 213, 216, fig. 8.
- 1998
- Huys Janssen, Paul. Jan Van Bijlert, 1597/98-1671: catalogue raisonné. Oculi 7. Amsterdam, 1998: 139.
- 1999
- White, Christopher. Ashmolean Museum Oxford, catalogue of the collection of paintings: Dutch, Flemish, and German paintings before 1900. Oxford, 1999: 24.
- 2000
- Gruber, Gerlinde. "Hendrick Terbrugghen." In Dipingere la musica: strumenti in posa nell'arte del cinque e seicento. Edited by Sylvia Ferino Pagden and Luiz C. Marques. Exh. cat. Santa Maria della Pietà, Cremona; Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Milan, 2000: 116-117, no. I.22, repro.
- 2001
- Gruber, Gerlinde. "Hendrick Terbrugghen." In Dipingere la musica: Musik in der Malerei des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts. Edited by Sylvia Ferino Pagden, Luiz C. Marques and Wilfried Seipel. Exh. cat. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Milan, 2001: 142-143, no. I.22, repro.
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- 2004
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- 2005
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- 2007
- Slatkes, Leonard J., and Wayne E. Franits. The paintings of Hendrick ter Brugghen, 1588-1629: Catalogue raisonné. Oculi 10. Amsterdam, 2007: 50-51, 57, 118, 130n, 165-167, 171, 185-187, 193, 194, 218, 271, 377, cat. no. A71, pl. 70.
- 2009
- Lopez, Jonathan. "A Holland - America Line: The National Gallery’s Acquisition of a Major Ter Brugghen Opens a Window on the History of Taste." Art and Antiques (May 2009): 42–44, repro.
- 2009
- Pollock, Lindsay. "Old Masters Survive Test." The Art Newspaper 200 (March 2009): 47, repro.
- 2009
- Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. "Hendrick ter Brugghen, Bagpipe Player." Bulletin / National Gallery of Art, no. 41 (Fall 2009): 14-16, 99-100, repro.
- 2010
- Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. "A Painting by Hendrick ter Brugghen Acquired by the National Gallery of Art, Washington." The Burlington Magazine 32 (5 February 2010): 99-100.
- 2011
- Bok, Marten Jan. "Een leven lang leren." Kunstschrift 55, no. 5 (October/November 2011): 28, 33, caption for fig. 38. [Fig. 38 shows the Oxford Ashmolean Portrait of a Man Playing the Bagpipes]
- 2014
- Wheelock, Arthur K, Jr. "The Evolution of the Dutch Painting Collection." National Gallery of Art Bulletin no. 50 (Spring 2014): 2-19, repro.
- 2016
- Warner-Johnson, Tim, and Jeremy Howard, eds. Colnaghi: Past, Present and Future: An Anthology. London, 2016: 188-189, color plate 3.
- 2020
- Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Clouds, ice, and Bounty: The Lee and Juliet Folger Collection of Seventeenth-Century Dutch and Flemish Paintings. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2020: 38, fig. 17, 40.
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