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Facing away from us, a young woman with pale skin, wearing a golden yellow gown, leans her head down toward the lute she holds nearly upright in her lap in this horizontal painting. She sits near the right edge of the painting so her body faces the table beyond her, to our left. Her body is angled away from us but she turns her head so we see her in profile, facing our left. She tips her head to put her ear next to the lute, and she looks down and off to our left with brown eyes under thin, slightly arched brows. She has a straight nose, smooth, flushed cheeks, and her coral-pink lips are closed. Her dark blond hair is parted down the middle and pulled back under long braids looped around the back and over the top of her head. Light reflects off her hair and off the short, loose strands near the ear we can see. Her long yellow dress has a full skirt. The stiff bodice is laced up the sides and hooks over the shoulders, over a voluminous, bright white blouse. The sleeve we can see is pushed up over her forearm. Her seat is draped in crimson-red, velvety fabric. She holds the neck of the lute up high with her left hand, her fingers pressing the strings, so she brings the rounded body of the instrument up to her ear. In front of her, the table is draped with fringed, olive-green fabric. A violin made with blond wood lies on the table with the neck stretching toward us. There is also the violin bow and at least three wooden recorders on the table. One book of music is open so the pages fall over the edge of the table, near the woman. One other book of music at the back of the table is held open with a recorder. The feet of the table and the ankles of the woman are cut off by the bottom edge of the painting. The background is dark, earth brown except for a diagonal shaft of light across the top left corner of the composition, presumably from a high window in the wall out of our view.

Orazio Gentileschi

The Lute Player, c. 1612/1620

West Building, Main Floor - Gallery 29

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 143.5 x 129 cm (56 1/2 x 50 13/16 in.)

Credit Line

Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund

Accession Number

1962.8.1

Artists / Makers

Orazio Gentileschi (artist) Florentine, 1563 - 1639

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .

Overview

Orazio Gentileschi was one of the earliest and most gifted painters to be inspired by the genre scenes of Caravaggio in Rome. Here, he must have had in mind Caravaggio's famous picture on the same theme. Orazio's young woman listens intently to a note as it resonates in the pear–shaped body of the instrument. She may be tuning her lute in anticipation of the concert promised by the assortment of recorders, a cornetto and violin, and the song books lying open on the table before her.

The graceful musician and her lute are seen, unexpectedly, from the back, turned three–quarters away from the spectator. Orazio's meticulous attention to detail is such that every surface is described with a precision of focus that gives pleasure to the eye. Dutch painters, famous for their amazingly illusionistic renderings of fabrics, improved their craft by studying Orazio's works. His gift for conveying the textures of fine cloth is shown off here in the sharp gold of the dress, the dull gleam of the scarlet velvet on the stool, and the matte softness of the dark–green cloth covering the table.

More information on this painting can be found in the Gallery publication Italian Paintings of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, which is available as a free PDF https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/italian-paintings-17th-and-18th-centuries.pdf

Provenance

Girolamo Cavazza [d. 1717], Bologna;[1] purchased 3 June 1697 by (Marcantonio Franceschini) for Prince Johann Adam Andreas of Liechtenstein [1657-1712], Vienna;[2] by descent through the Princes of Liechtenstein to Prince Franz Josef II von und zu Liechtenstein [1906-1989], Vienna, subsequently Vaduz, until 1962;[3] purchased 1962 through (Feilchenfeldt, Zurich) by NGA.

[1] The signature on the 1697 bill of sale (copy in NGA curatorial files) has now been deciphered to read Girolamo Cavazza. Cavazza was apparently a wealthy Bolognese merchant who owned a number of paintings. On Cavazza see Dwight C. Miller, Marcantonio Franceschini and the Lichtensteins, Cambridge, 1991: 36, n. 4, 63, 209, n. a; Giuseppe Guidicini, Cose notabili della città di Bologna, 5 vols., Bologna, 1868-1873: 1:43, and Miscellanea storico-patria bolognese, Bologna, 1872: 255.

[2] In December 1693 January 1694, Franceschini, at Prince Johann Adam Andreas' request, began looking at paintings that Cavazza was reportedly willing to sell; some of the paintings mentioned at this time appear in the bill of sale of 1697. The letters are published in Miller 1991: 209, no. 34; 212-213, no. 38. As Franceschini's letters for the period May 1694 December 1698 are lost, it is not possible to follow the exact transactions. See also Fritz Wilhelm, "Neue Quellen zur Geschichte des fürstlichen Liechtensteinischen Kunstbesitzes", Jahrbuch des Kunsthistorischen Institutes der k.k. Zentralkommission für Denkmalpflege 5 (1911), Beilage: cols. 87- 142.

[3] Recorded by the following, always as Caravaggio: Vincenzio Fanti, Descrizzione completa di tutto ciò che ritrovasi nella galleria di pittura e scultura di Sua Altezza Giuseppe Wenceslao del S.R.I. Principe Regnante della Casa di Liechtenstein...data in luce di Vincenzio Fanti, Vienna, 1767: 91, no. 452; Johann Dallinger and Abate Lucchini, Description des tableaux et des pièces de sculpture que renferme la Gallerie de son Altesse François Joseph Chef et Prince Regnant de la maison de Liechtenstein, Vienna, 1780: 173-174, no. 579; Gustav Friedrich Waagen, Die vornehmsten Kunstdenkmäler in Wien, Vienna, 1866: 261-262; Jakob von Falke, Katalog der Fürstlich Liechtensteinischen Bildergallerie im Gartenpalais i der Rossau zu Wien, Vienna, 1873: 9, no. 61 (also 1885, 6, no. 31); A. Kronfeld, Führer durch die Fürstlich Liechtensteinsche Gemäldegalerie in Wien, Vienna, 1927: 8, no. 31; Erich Strohmer, Die Gemäldegalerie des Fürsten Liechtenstein in Wien, Vienna, 1943: 93, pl. 18.

Associated Names

Cavazza, Girolamo
Feilchenfeldt, Walter M.
Franceschini, Marcantonio
Liechtenstein, Prince Franz Josef II of
Liechtenstein, Prince Josef Johann Adam of
Liechtenstein, Alois I of Prince
Liechtenstein, Johann Adam Andreas I of Prince
Liechtenstein, Prince Alois II of
Liechtenstein, Prince Anton Florian I of
Liechtenstein, Prince Franz I of
Liechtenstein, Prince Franz Josef I of
Liechtenstein, Prince Johann I of
Liechtenstein, Prince Johann II of
Liechtenstein, Prince Johann Nepomuk Karl of
Liechtenstein, Prince Joseph Wenzel of
Liechtenstein, Princes of

Exhibition History

1911: Mostra del ritratto italiano dalla fine del sec. xvi all'anno 1861, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, 1911, no. 11, 151 (exh. list), 162-163 (subsequent cat. Il ritratto italiano dal Caravaggio al Tiepolo alla mostra..., Bergamo, 1927), as by Caravaggio.

1948: Meisterwerke aus den Sammlungen des Fürsten von Liechtenstein, Kunstmuseum, Lucerne, 1948, no. 47.

1951: Liechtenstein Pictures on Loan to the National Gallery, National Gallery, London, 1951, no. 31, no cat.

1969: In Memoriam, Ailsa Mellon Bruce, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1969, unnumbered checklist.

1979: Paintings of Italian Masters from the Collections of U.S.A. Museums, State Hermitage Museum, Leningrad; Pushkin Museum, Moscow; The Kiev Museum of Western and Eastern Art, 1979 (organized by the Armand Hammer Foundation, Los Angeles).

1990: A Caravaggio Rediscovered: The Lute Player, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1990, no. 15, color plate.

1997: Los Cinco Sentidos y el Arte, Museo del Prado, Madrid, 1997, no. V.7, repro.

1999: Caravaggio's 'The Taking of Christ': Saints and Sinners in Baroque Painting, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1999, brochure, no. 8, repro.

2001: Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi: Father and Daughter Painters in Baroque Italy, Museo del Palazzo di Venezia, Rome; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, 2001-2002, no. 22, repro.

2010: Loan for display with permanent collection, Art Institute of Chicago, 2010.

2016: 100th Anniversary of the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Museum of Art, 2016-2017, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

Technical Summary

The support consists of three pieces of medium-weight herringbone-twill fabric sewn horizontally prior to the application of the ground. The ground is a dark, grayish brown color. Areas of thin dark underpaint were applied under the background and the tablecloth, and possibly throughout the composition. The paint was applied in fluid opaque layers, with glazes employed to enhance the shadowed folds of the red and yellow drapery and the tablecloth. The figure's right knee, shown in deep shadow, is composed entirely of thin translucent glazes. The thickest areas of paint were applied in broad pastose strokes in a wet-into-wet technique. Details and highlights of the hair were applied in thin strokes using a dry paint dragged across the surface. X-radiographs reveal that the left profile of the figure's face and the right sound hole of the violin were shifted slightly. X-radiographs also reveal a distinct swatch of drapery at the extreme left edge just below center; it bears no relation to the surface composition and most likely remains from an earlier use of the support. Examination with a stereomicroscope reveals that the tablecloth was painted directly over this bit of drapery. Air-path x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy suggests that the yellow drapery consists of Naples yellow and lead white and possibly lead-tin yellow, and the red highlight may contain vermilion and lead white and possibly lead red.

A vertical strip approximately 10 cm wide is butt-joined to the right side of the painting and was added at a later date. Cusping is visible only along the top, bottom, and right edges of the original support, suggesting that the left edge has been trimmed. The varnish is slightly discolored. The paint is somewhat abraded, especially the tablecloth on the left and the shadowed drapery folds over the figure's right knee. Generously applied overpaint in the shaft of light at the bottom left and on the bottom and right added strips has discolored. The shaft of light in the background may also have been heavily reinforced. The painting was relined, discolored varnish was removed, and the painting was restored in 1963, probably by Frank Sullivan.

Bibliography

1896: Bode, Wilhelm. Die fürstlich Liechtenstein'sche Galerie in Wien. Vienna, 1896: 78, engr. by K. Schönbauer, as by Caravaggio.

1906: Kallab, W. "Caravaggio." Jahrbuch der kunsthistorischen Sammlungen des allerhöchsten Kaiserhauses (Jahrbuch der kunsthistorischen Sammlungen in Wien) 27 (1906): 280-281, fig. 5, as by Caravaggio.

1911: Marangoni, Matteo. "La Mostra del ritratto italiano." Vita d'arte 8 (1911): 22, as by Caravaggio.

1911: Tarchiani, Nello. "La mostra del ritrato italiano." Rassegna d'Arte 11 (1911): 87, repro., as by Caravaggio.

1912: Frizzoni, Gustav. "Einige kritische Bemerkungen über italienische Gemälde in der fürstlich Liechtensteinischen Galerie." Jahrbuch des kunsthistorischen Institutes der k.k. Zentralkommission für Denkmalpflege 6 (1912): 97-98, fig. 52, as by Caravaggio.

1914: Longhi, Roberto. "Orazio Borgianii." L'arte 17 (1914): 8, as by Caravaggio. Reprinted in Roberto Longhi, Scritti giovanili, 2 vols., Florence, 1961.

1915: Longhi, Roberto. "Battistello." L'arte 18 (1915): 63, as by Caravaggio. Reprinted in Robert Longthi, Scritti giovanili, 2 vols., Florence, 1961.

1916: Longhi, Robert. "Gentileschi padre e figlia." L'arte 19 (1916): 254, as by Caravaggio.

1920: Rochès, Gabriel. La Caravage. Paris, 1920: 59-60, pl. 5, as by Caravaggio.

1922: Gamba, Carlo. "Orazio Gentileschi." Dedalo 3 (1922): 262-266, repro.

1922: Marangoni, Matteo. "Note sul Caravaggio alla mostra del sei e settecento." Bollettino d'Arte 16 (1922): 224, as not by Caravaggio.

1923: Voss, Hermann. "Caravaggios Frühzeit." Jahrbuch der königlich Preussischen Kunstsammlungen (Jahrbuch der Berliner Museen) 44 (1923): 79-80, tentatively as by Artemisia Gentileschi.

1924: Voss, Hermann. Die Malerei des Barock in Rom. Berlin, 1924: 459, pl. 111.

1946: Marangoni, Matteo. Il Caravaggio. Florence, 1946: 44, pl. 45.

1959: Berne-Joffroy, André. Le dossier caravage. Paris, 1959: 38-39, 45, 50, 106, 110, 114, 138, 144, 159, 176, 179-181, 185, 186, 290, 366, fig. 11.

1960: Golzio, Vincenzo. Il seicento e il settecento. 2 vols. 2nd edition. Turin, 1960: 1305, fig. 1020.

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 56.

1966: Bissell, R. Ward. "The Baroque Painter Orazio Gentileschi: His Career in Italy." 2 vols. Ph.D. diss., University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1966: 1:61-63, fig. 57; 2:133-138, no. 26.

1966: Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 2:262, color repro.

1967: Bissell, R. Ward. "Orazio Gentileschi's 'Young Woman with a Violin'." Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts 46 (1967): 74, repro.

1967: Moir, Alfred. The Italian Followers of Caravaggio. 2 vols. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1967: 1:75, 119; 2:75, fig. 81.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 49, repro.

1971: Bissell, R. Ward. "Orazio Gentileschi: Baroque without Rhetoric." The Art Quarterly 3 (1971): 275-276, repro.

1973: Previtali, Giovanni. "Gentileschi's 'The Samaritan Woman at the Well'." The Burlington Magazine 115 (1973): 358, n. 6.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 148, repro.

1976: Freedberg, Sydney. "Gentileschi's 'Madonna with the Sleeping Christ Child'." The Burlington Magazine 118 (1976): 733, fig. 5.

1978: King, Marian. Adventures in Art: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1978: 40-41, pl. 18.

1979: Nicolson, Benedict. The International Caravaggesque Movement: Lists of Pictures by Caravaggio and His Followers throughout Europe from 1590-1650. Oxford, 1979: 53, pl. 53.

1979: Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: 1:201-203; 2:pl. 139.

1979: Watson, Ross. The National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1979: 63, pl. 48.

1981: Bissell, R. Ward. Orazio Gentileschi and the Poetic Tradition in Caravaggesque Painting. University Park, Pennsylvania, 1981: 38-39, 65, 92, n. 16, 111, 158-159, no. 31, color pl. B, figs. 64-66.

1981: Freedberg, Sydney. "Gentileschi's 'Madonna with the Sleeping Christ Child'." In A Dealer's Record: Agnew's 1967-81. London, 1981: 45, fig. 13.

1983: Hibbard, Howard. Caravaggio. New York, 1983: 39.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 232, no 297, color repro.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 172, repro.

1987: Deswarte, Sylvie. "Gentileschi (Orazio)." In Dictionnaire de la Peinture. Paris, 1987: 335.

1989: Garrard, Mary. Artemisia Gentileschi. The Image of the Female Hero in Italian Baroque Art. Princeton, 1989: 28, repro.

1989: Nicolson, Benedict. Caravaggism in Europe. 2nd edition of International Caravaggesque Movement. Revised and enlarged by Luisa Vertova. 3 vols. Turin, 1989: 1:115, no. 208; 2:fig. 208.

1991: Miller, Dwight C. Marcantonio Franceschini and the Liechtensteins. Cambridge, 1991: 60.

1992: Christiansen, Keith. Italian Painting. New York, 1992: 268.

1992: National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 108, repro.

1992: Rovi, Alberto. "Precocità del Gentileschi di Brera." Arte Lombarda 101 (1992): 108.

1996: De Grazia, Diane, and Eric Garberson, with Edgar Peters Bowron, Peter M. Lukehart, and Mitchell Merling. Italian Paintings of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1996: 96-101, color repro. 99.

1998: Lapierre, Alexandra. Artemisia un Duel pour L'Immoralite. Robert Laffont, 1998.

2004: Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 164, no. 123, color repro.

2021: Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. "In Pursuit of Masterpieces: The National Gallery of Art’s Acquisitions from the Prince of Liechtenstein." Artibus et historiae 42, no. 83 (2021): 322, 323, color fig. 14, 328.