Lute Player

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Lute Player
ArtistValentin de Boulogne
Year1625–26
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions128.3 cm × 99.1 cm (50.5 in × 39.0 in)
LocationMetropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Accession2008.459

Lute Player is an early 17th-century painting by French artist Valentin de Boulogne. Done in oil on canvas, the painting depicts a young soldier playing a lute. The painting was originally in the collection of Cardinal Mazarin, and is now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York.[1]

Description[edit]

Lute was rendered by Valentin de Boulogne between 1625 and 1626 in Rome. The work was then sold, and first appears in the collection of Cardinal Mazarin, a French political minister who owned nine other works by de Boulogne. The painting's title and central figure may be self-referential as de Boulogne's nickname in Rome was "Amador", which has been loosely translated from Spanish as "lover boy".[2]

The painting itself depicts a young man playing a lute. The figure is clad in rich clothing and a steel gorget, indicating he is a soldier - likely a Spanish mercenary. Like many of de Boulogne's paintings, Lute is heavily influenced by tenebrism, a style of art popularized by de Boulogne's contemporary Caravaggio.[2]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Annick Lemoine, Keith Christiansen, Valentin de Boulogne: Beyond Caravaggio, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2016, p. 162 ISBN 978-1-58839-602-0
  2. ^ a b "Lute Player". www.metmuseum.org. Retrieved 2020-08-24.