The Concert
1623
Artist, Dutch, 1592 - 1656

Gerrit van Honthorst (1592–1656) has long been considered one of the greatest painters of the Dutch Golden Age. After training in Utrecht, he traveled to Italy around 1615, where he embraced the radical stylistic and thematic ideas of Caravaggio. The immediacy of Caravaggio's religious and genre scenes, which are characterized by dramatic gestures and pronounced contrasts of light and dark, inspired a generation of "Caravaggisti" throughout Europe. These artists generally worked directly from posed models, as Caravaggio did, and brought their scenes close to the picture plane to suggest that they were an extension of everyday experiences. Honthorst, in particular, painted with verve and assurance, utilizing bright colors and strong chiaroscuro effects, and his life-sized sensuous figures dressed in exotic costumes gave a bold presence to his images.
When Honthorst returned to Utrecht in 1620 he was already a famous artist, and he was feted in his native city. His enthusiastic embrace of Caravaggism and his international renown also had great appeal at the court of Prince Maurits of Nassau in The Hague. The Prince of Orange, as he was known, was consciously trying to broaden the reputation of the court by improving his residences, building gardens, presenting musical soirées, and acquiring paintings.
Honthorst's The Concert is first mentioned in a 1632 inventory of one of the Prince of Orange’s palaces in The Hague. Although the painting may have been purchased by Maurits, it may also have been a diplomatic gift. Paintings were often given to the prince in appreciation for services rendered or in hopes of eliciting future favors. A possible source for such a diplomatic gift was the exiled king of Bohemia, Frederick I, who had moved to The Hague in 1621 with his wife, Elizabeth Stuart, after his Protestant troops were defeated by Catholic forces. Even in exile, the king and queen of Bohemia actively collected works of art and lived a sumptuous lifestyle with funds partially provided by the Prince of Orange. They were great admirers of Honthorst, and he eventually became their court artist.
Frederick and Elizabeth may have commissioned the painting and then presented it to the Prince of Orange in appreciation for his financial support. This hypothesis is based on the similarity between the concertmaster in Honthorst’s painting and an illustration of Frederick playing ball in a contemporary manuscript depicting courtly life in The Hague.
The Concert was much more than a decorative element in a courtly setting. It also had an underlying political message. Harmony in society, as well as in music, exists when the guidance of its leader is followed. This adage would have been appropriate for either the Prince of Orange or King Frederick I of Bohemia.
Until recently, the influence of Caravaggio on the art of northern Europe had not been represented in the Gallery's otherwise rich collection of Dutch art. The acquisition in 2009 of Hendrick ter Brugghen's Bagpipe Player, 1624, was a first step in addressing this gap. Together with the Gallery's Italian, French, and Spanish Caravaggist paintings, the works by these two masters convey the enormous impact of Caravaggio's style throughout Europe in the 17th century.

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 45
Artwork overview
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Medium
oil on canvas
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Credit Line
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Dimensions
overall: 123.5 × 205 cm (48 5/8 × 80 11/16 in.)
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Accession
2013.38.1
More About this Artwork
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Probably Prince Frederick Hendrick of Orange [1584-1647], The Hague, by 1632; by descent to Prince Willem V of Orange [1748-1806], The Hague;[1] requisitioned as a ‘spoil of war’ by the Revolutionary Government of France, and taken to Paris, May 1795.[2] private collection, Paris and Senan, France, since 1840;[3] purchased jointly 2009 by (Anthony Speelman, London) and (Adam Williams Fine Art, Ltd., New York);[4] purchased 31 July 2013 by NGA.
[1] According to the inventory of the Stadhouderlijk Kwartier (the Stadholder’s official residence) made in August 1632: "In the Great Hall: (no. 611) A painting for the fireplace mantle made by Honthorst, being a Music." The inventory covers the collections of both the Prince of Orange and of his wife, Amalia van Solms. The painting was not inherited by (female) heirs of Amalia van Solms, which indicates that in 1632 it was owned by the Prince of Orange and later inherited in the male line. The Catalogus Kabinet van Schilderijen van Willem V op het Buitenhof (Catalog of the Gallery of Paintings of Prince Willem V of Orange), undated, but no later than 1793, includes: "(No. 65) A company making music, on canvas in [black frame with gilded inside edge] by Honthorst."
[2] Catalogus van de schooner verzameling Schilderijen die zig in den Haag bevonden in de Galerij van den voormaligen Stad-houder Willem den vijfden Prins van Orange etc. etc. en die in Frankrijk getransporteerd zijn voor en door de Fransche Natie als gereekend zijnde te behooren onder de geconquesteerde goederen van dien Prins in Mey 1795. Likely No. 69: "Een Consert, van verscheide speelders en speelsters Leevens groote halverlijf op doek door G. Honthorst, 4 voet 5 duim 6 voet 5 duim" (A concert of several male and female musicians, life size, half length on canvas by Honthorst, 4 feet 5 thumbs). (1814 copy of 1795 original, Rijksarchief, Den Haag, ARA, Archief Binnenlandse Zaken, Onderwijs, Kunsten en Wetenschappen 1815-1848, dossier nr. 4029.)
[3] A set of four interior scenes of the owner’s country residence, circa 1900, by French artist Etienne Azambre (1859 -1935) includes a View of the ‘grand salon’ as seen from the ‘petit salon’ in which the right 2/3 portion of the NGA’s painting is visible on the far wall. (Photos of the four paintings are in the NGA curatorial files.)
[4] Permanent French export license no. 111555, issued on 23 July 2009; copy in NGA curatorial files.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
2018
Utrecht, Caravaggio and Europe, Centraal Museum, Utrecht; Bayerisches Staatsgemäldesammlungen - Alte Pinakothek, Munich, 2018-2019, no. 66, repro.
Bibliography
1930
Drossaers, Sophie Wilhelmina Albertine, Cornelis Hofstede de Groot, and C.H. de Jonge. "Inventaris van de meubelen van het Stadhouderlijk kwartier met het Speelhuis en van het Huis in het Noordeinde te 's-Gravenhage." Oud Holland 47, no. 5 (1930): 231, no. 240.
1974
Drossaers, Sophie Wilhelmina Albertine, and Th. H. Lunsingh Scheurleer. Inventarissen van de inboedels in de verblijven van de Oranjes en daarmede gelijk te stellen stukken 1567-1795. 3 vols. The Hague, 1974-1976: 1:207, no. 611.
2014
Wheelock, Arthur K, Jr. "The Evolution of the Dutch Painting Collection." National Gallery of Art Bulletin no. 50 (Spring 2014): 2-19, repro.
2015
"Art for the Nation: The Story of the Patrons' Permanent Fund." National Gallery of Art Bulletin, no. 53 (Fall 2015):33, repro.
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: 156, fig. 2, 157.
2022
Speelman, Anthony. A Tale of Two Monkeys: Adventures in the Art World. London, 2022: 159-164, color fig. 64, color frontispiece.
Inscriptions
upper left, GH in monogram: GHonthorst fe 1623
Wikidata ID
Q20177016