4x5 transparency scanned on Hasselblad Flextight X1 by Ed Pollard-2009.

The Musical Group

Artist Giovanni Battista Boncori (Italian, 1643 - 1699)

Dateca. 1695

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions77 1/2 x 57 1/2 in. (196.9 x 146.1 cm)
Overall, Frame: 98 x 77 1/4 in. (248.9 x 196.2 cm)

ClassificationsEuropean art

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number71.544

Terms

People
Musical Instruments
Music
Musicians
Pan
Violin
Lute
Bass
Harpsichord
Red
Green
Tan
White
Blue
Brown
Yellow
Late Baroque
Bolognese
Bologna, Italy

Collections

European Art before 1945

On View

Not on view

DescriptionThis is a large oil on canvas painting. It is an ensemble of four young people in courtly dress engrossed in playing instruments. In the very center of the canvas is a young girl's face: she looks down as she plays the harpsichord. The three other musicians form a triangle, framing the face of the harpsichord musician. The violinist is to her direct right, the lute player is seated in front of the violinist, and the double bass musician plays with his back to the viewer. In the upper left corner of the canvas, the figure of Pan overlooks. He is in gray tones like a statue, as he plays the sprinx. The background gives a hint of classical architecture with a column on the right side.

Label TextGiovanni Battista Boncori Italian (1633–1699) The Musical Group, ca. 1675 Oil on canvas Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.544 Reproduction 18th-century Italian carved and gilded frame Museum purchase with funds donated by the staff of the Chrysler Museum of Art, Annual Fund 2009–2010, in memory of Billy Hooten, and Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. by exchange F2010.3.2 The Card Players, ca. 1675 Oil on canvas Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. by exchange 2009.8 Italian carved and gilded frame, 18th century Museum purchase with funds donated by the staff of the Chrysler Museum of Art, Annual Fund 2009–2010, in memory of Billy Hooten, and Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. by exchange F2010.3.1 Originally created as companion pictures in late seventeenth-century Rome, these two ambitious scenes of everyday Italian life were rejoined only in 2010, when the Chrysler Museum acquired The Card Players and reunited it with The Musical Group, which has been part of the collection since 1971. The two subjects may at first seem incongruous as pendants. The Musical Group depicts an elegant ensemble of musicians in courtly dress performing on a violin, lute, violone and harpsichord. Uniformly graceful and composed, the performers appear united in their effort to create beautiful music, the harmony of their concert serving as a symbol of their own emotional concord. The Card Players, however, presents us with a far less elevated gaming scene filled with discord and deceit. Seated perhaps in a tavern and surrounded by tricksters and cheats, a gullible young man has been lured into a game of cards that is literally stacked against him. As he leans forward to play what he believes to be the winning card, the woman behind him quietly relieves him of his money bag. Presenting opposing images of high life and low life, of harmony and discord, the two paintings convey a broader moral message about the choices we must all make between good and bad behavior, between virtue and vice.