Recorder Home Page

Recorder Iconography

Compiled by Nicholas S. Lander

H

Martin (Emil Ferdinand) Haller

• Trophies, high relief and gilded wood, Martin Haller (1835-1925). Hamburg: Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe. Ref. Hempel & Jockel (1987: 4, fig. – b&w). Now re-installed with renovation in the Hamburg Museum of Art and Craftsmanship. Two designs have what may be recorders; presumably Haller copied these trophies with their 18th-century instruments from an older source (Rowland-Jones, pers. comm.) However, I see nothing resembling recorders in photographs of these trophies which include clarinets, oboe, bassoon and what looks like the stock of a musette.

Dirk [Dirck] Hals

• Merry Company (1625), Dirk Hals (1591-1656). London & Maastricht: Noortman Gallery. Ref. Thomson & Rowland-Jones (1995: 82, pl. 23B – b&w; 2000b: fig. - b&w; 2002b: 48, pl. 2 – b&w). Shows an almost cylindrical recorder with violin, two lutes and an unused cello. "The recorder here represents abandonment to sensual pleasures – strong drink and the presence of ladies of easy virtue" (Rowland-Jones, 2002b).
• Merry Company, Dirk Hals (1591-1656). Private collection. Burlington Magazine 314, vol. LIV, p. xvi (May 1929); Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (2001); Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2001). Includes singers, a lutenist and a recorder player. The recorder is of alto size. All fingers on are on with the exception of the little finger of the lower (left) hand which is raised above its hole. The instrument is fairly slender with only a slight bell flare. The mouthpiece and window/labium are not clear, but the finger position is suggestive of a recorder. The choice of instruments and the dress and age of the company suggest this could be a wedding reception.
• The Flute Lesson (1658), Dirk Hals (1591-1656). Hannover: Niederaumlchissches Landesmuseum Landesgalerie. Ref. Walter Bergamnn (photo slide 38 - b&w) ex Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2006); Wiese (1988: fig. 86 – b&w); National Gallery of Art, Washington (1995: 8, fig. 11); Archiv Moeck. A young woman fingers a flared bell recorder assisted by her teacher in a plumed hat.
• Hearing from The Five Senses (1636), round panel, 12 cm diam., Dirk Hals (1591-1656). The Hague: Mauritshuis. A young woman plays a small duct-flute (recorder or flageolet).
• Reunion galante, oil on wood, 30 × 46 cm, Dirk Hals (1591-1656). Paris: Musée de Louvre, MNR 484. Ref. Joconde Website (1999). Formerly known as The Dinner. Around a table four men and two women sing and play their instruments, one a lute, another a slender pipe, probably a duct-flute (possibly a recorder). Formerly attributed to Buytenwech.
• Woman playing the Recorder, Dirk Hals (1591-1656). Location unknown: Offered for sale, Brian Koetser Gallery, London, Autumn Exhibition (Oct. – Dec. 1971). Ref. Warburg Institute, London. A woman in a dress and embroidered top covered by a smock holds a cylindrical soprano recorder in perfect playing position. This portrait is not in the least suggestive, though a pendant might make it so, should one exist.
• At the House of Johan de Witt, Dirk Hals (1591-1656). Private Collection. Ref. Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (2001); Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2001). A man plays a slender alto-sized duct-flute with a medium bell flare, right hand lowermost, all fingers on.
• Tavern Interior, follower of Dirk Hals (1591-1656). Uppsala: Universitet Konstsamlingarna, UU122. Ref. Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2000). A man at a table plays a beaked pipe (right hand lowermost) beside a lutenist. No other features are visible, but the context suggests a recorder. Notes by Rowland-Jones (loc. cit.)
• Merry Company, Dirk Hals (1591-1656). Private Collection. Ref. Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (2001); Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2001). A brothel scene in which a man plays a cylindrical pipe (probably a recorder) with a sharp and considerable bell flare and a possible window/labium, right hand lowermost.
• Merry Company, Dirk Hals (1591-1656). Private Collection. Ref. Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (2001); Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2001). At the centre of a crowd in a large room a man stands playing a slender pipe, probably a recorder. All his fingers are down, excluding the little finger of the lowermost (left) hand which is lifed above its hole. No window/labium is visible, and there is no bell flare.
• Merry Company, oil on panel, Dirk Hals (1591-1656). Ref. Gabrius Data Bank (2001 - col.) In an interior elegantly dressed men and women converse, sing and play instruments. A woman plays a lute, a man a violin, a young woman sings and a young man plays a small (soprano) recorder (details obscure). In the foreground a cello, lute and cittern lie piled in a heap. Auctioned 31 May 1990, sold (Gabrius, loc. cit.)
• Garden Party (1620-1625), oil on panel, 53 × 84 cm, Dirk Hals (1591-1656). Haarlem: Frans Halsmuseum, Inv. os 76-10. Ref. Web Gallery of Art (2003); Angelo Zaniol (pers. comm., 2003). Three men and two women amuse themselves in the garden of a mansion. On a terrace opposite them musicians sing and play lute, violin and a long very slender duct-flute since details of the beak and window/labium are visible. The young woman who plays it covers the holes with the first two fingers of her uppermost (left) hand and all four fingers of the lowermost, so this may well represent a recorder. In the background, a fountain with a statue of Bacchus can be seen.
• Elegant Party Making Music by an Ornamental Lake (1621), oil on panel, 30 × 39 cm, Dirk Hals (1591-1656). Würzburg: Albrecht Neuhaus; formerly Maastricht: Nortmann Galleries. Ref. Bridgeman Art Library (2003: NOR 61638 - col.); Catalogue, Fine Art Fair, Maastricht (2003: 47 - col.) On a terrace two men and two women amuse themselves with music-making. A man, standing, plays a violin; another, seated, plays a lute. A woman, standing, plays a long very slender pipe which is probably a duct-flute, though no details are visible. Another woman, seated, listens, looking at us as if we are intruding. Two children stand behind, watching.
• Merry Company, Dirk Hals (1591-1656). Düsseldorf: Museum Kunst Palast. Ref. Website: Mediabox (2005 - col.) Three couples sit around a table, the women sewing, the men talking. On the wall behind them hang a lute, a flute, and two small pipes, crossed. The latter might be duct-flutes, possibly recorders.
• A Merry Company Making Music (1623), oil on oak panel, 22.6 × 31.1 cm, Dirk Hals (1591-1656). Location unknown: auctioned Sotheby's (London), Sale LO05037, 8 December 2005, Lot 116 (sold). Ref. Website: Sotheby's (2007 - col.); Gabrius Databank (2007 - col.) One of Dirck Hals two earliest known interiors, both dated 1623. The somewhat barren setting for the present work gives it the impression of a stage filled with actors, and it is possible Hals painted only the figures. A man and two women sit around a table playing lute, singing and playing a slender, cylindrical pipe respectively. The dispositions of the piper's fingers are suggestive of recorder-playing. Three men stand behind singing from parts.
• Merry Company, oil on panel, Dirk Hals (1591-1656). Prague: Národní Galerie, Šternberský Palác [National Gallery, Sternberg Palace], Inv. 0-10162 Men and women around a table are entertained by two young men playing lute and a slightly flared alto recorder. The player of the later has his thumb and fingers in perfect recorder playing position, but details of the beak are obscure and the window/labium is not visible. There is a whippet centre front.

Frans Hals

• Singing Boy with a Recorder (ca 1623/1625), oil on canvas, 62 × 54.5 cm, Frans Hals (1581/85-1666). Berlin: Gemäldergalerie, Inv. No. 801 A. Another image, from Carol Gerten-Jackson. Ref. Klessmann (1971: 287 - b&w); Sutton (1984: pl. 17); Griffioen (1988: 440-441); Postcard: Druck Brüder, Berlin, Nr. 223 - col.; Bildarchiv Foto Marburg (2002: DISKUS-Objekt-Dokument 00001477 - b&w). A tronie in which a young man with a plumed hat holds a slim, flared-bell, soprano recorder. Available as a poster from Barewalls.
• Laughing Boy with a Recorder (ca 1628), Frans Hals (1581/85-1666). Schwerin: Staatliches Museum. Ref. Archiv Moeck. A circular painting of a young boy holding a slender, cylindrical duct-flute (possibly a recorder).
• Laughing Boy with a Recorder (1630), Frans Hals (1581/85-1666). Kassel: Schloss Wilhelmshöhe, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister. A circular painting of a young boy holding a slender, cylindrical duct-flute (possibly a recorder).
• Laughing Boy with a Recorder, Frans Hals (1581/85-1666). Cincinatti: Art Museum. A circular painting of a young boy holding a slender, cylindrical duct-flute (possibly a recorder).
• Young Flute Player (mid 17th century), oil on wood, 54 × 43 cm, after Frans Hals (1581/85-1666). Lille: Musée des Beaux-Arts, Inv. P 943. Ref. Joconde Website (1999). One of a pendant pair. Depicts a boy with a duct-flute (flageolet or recorder). A Similar painting is preserved at Schwerin.
• Laughing Boy with a Flute (1626), oil on panel, 37.5 × 37.5 cm, Frans Hals (1581/85-1666). Göteborg: Göteborgs Konstmuseum? Wertholm. Ref. Bildarchiv Foto Marburg (2002: DISKUS-Objekt-Dokument 00075083 – b&w). A smiling urchin with tousled hair holds a cylindrical duct-flute (possibly a recorder) in his hand. The beak, window/labium and three finger-holes are clearly visible.
• Laughing Boy with a Flute, oil on panel, diamond-shaped, Frans Hals (1581/85-1666). Ref. Gabrius Data Bank, OMP (2002 - b&w.) A smiling urchin with tousled hair holds the head of a crude duct-flute (possibly a recorder) in his hand.

Harmen Fransz. Hals

• Interior with a Woman Playing a Recorder, oil on panel, 35.8 × 27.2 cm, Harmen Fransz. New York: Sotheby's, Old Master Paintings, 26 April 2001, Lot 322. Hals (1611-1669). Ref. Sotheby's, London, auction catalogue (2001: 152, pl. 322 - col.); Gabrius Data Bank, OMP (2002 - col.) In front of a fireplace, watched by a man leaning towards her, a woman plays a slightly flared duct-flute, her fingers well positioned for recorder playing. The window/labium of the duct-flute is just visible. The arrangement of figures can be related, although with numerous differences, to that in a signed painting by Harmen Hals sold by Christie's, London, 24 April 1998, lot. 48 (see below).
• Peasants Making Music in an Interior / The Sense of Hearing: Peasants Making Music in a Tavern, oil on panel, Harmen Fransz. Hals (1611-1669). Location unknown: auctioned Christie's, London, 24 April 1998, lot. 48. Ref. Gabrius Data Bank (2002 - col.) In a kitchen, a seated man plays a lute, and an old woman leaning forward plays a cylindrical pipe, possibly a recorder. The arrangement of figures can be related, although with numerous differences, to that in a signed painting by Harmen Hals sold by Sotheby's, London, 2001, lot. 322 (see above).

William Hamilton

• May (18th century), hand-coloured etching and stipple engraving, image oval, 38 × 30 cm, by Francesco Bartolozzi (1727-1815), after a painting by William Hamilton (1751-1801). Washington DC., Library of Congress, Dayton C. Miller Flute Collection. Ref. Jan Lancaster ex Robert Bigio (pers. comm., 2007); Website: easyart.com (2007: 108727). Outside a village three lads entertain two young women who sit beside a path at the edge of a forest. One of the boys has his arm around one of the girls; another boy holds her arm inviting her to join some maypole dancers on the common, the third boy plays on a alto-sized duct-flute with an unusually long key for the lowermost finger. Part of a series illustrating the Months.

Joseph Adam Hannong

• The Terzetto (1765), Joseph Adam Hannong (1734 – ca 1800). Munich: Bayerisches Nationalmuseum. Ref. Archiv Moeck. Design for a French porcelain manufacturer. A woman sits with a small boy and some sheep at her feet. They are serenaded by a young man who plays a baroque-form recorder.

J. Hare & J. Walsh

• Title page: The Compleat Flute-Master …, printed & sold by J. Hare & J. Walsh, London (1695). London: British Library, K.5.b.32. Ref. Welch (1911/1961: 76, fig. 36; 84); Vinquist (1974: 23, fig. 2-1). On the left, an oboe is crossed with a three-piece, baroque alto recorder; on the right, two such recorders are crossed.

Anton Friedrich Harms OR Johan Oswald Harms

• Apollo and the Nine Muses, sketch, 39.5 × 36.6 cm, Anton Friedrich Harms (1695-1745) or Johan Oswald Harms (1643-1708). Brunschweig: Herzog Anton-Ulrich Museum, Inv. Harms K 45. Ref. Munich RIdIM (1999: BSm 355 – painting; 356 – trophies). A sketch for a ceiling decoration. One Muse (? Euterpe) plays what seems to be a recorder. At the left and right of the picture itself are trophies with a melée of musical instruments. At right there is a bass recorder with a long bocal entering top centre; four finger-holes are visible; there is no bell-end flare. Elsewhere in the trophies, parts of other duct-flutes are visible; some of them could be recorders. Notes by Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 1999).

Johann Oswald Harms

• Apollo and Minerva, watercolour, Johann Oswald Harms (1643-1708). Brunswick: Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Inv. Harms K 20. Ref. Munich RIdIM (1999: BSm 476.). Said to include a recorder. Not seen.

Wilhelm von Harnier I

• From Kinderlein sketchbook, No. 30: Willy (1837), print, Wilhelm von Harnier I (1800-1838). Darmstadt: Hessische Landesmuseum, Hz AE 7341. Ref. Munich RIdIM (1999: DAhl 251). A baby (Willy) chews contentedly on a small recorder with a turned, flared bell.

C.J. Harrison (contemporary), English

• Tools (1975), oil painting, C.J. Harrison (contemporary). London: Collection of Mrs Hyman Solomons. Ref. Célestine Dass (1979: 71); Liesbeth van der Sluijs (pers. comm., 2001). "Oil painting in the neo-realist style of shallow box, frontal, rectangle up, with woodworkers tools, wooden mallets and gouges. Under the lowest shelf (of ca 3) an alto recorder is hung with a piece of string, ca 10 degrees left up. Lots of knots in the wood" (van der Sluijs, loc. cit.)

Kaspar Härtli (16th century), Swiss

• St Gallen Codex 542, S. 636 & 657: Kyrie, decorative illuminations, St Gallen Codex 542, S. 636 & 657, Kaspar Härtli (16th century) Ref. St Gall: Stiftsbibiothek. Bachmann-Geiser (1997: 100, fig. 9a-b) Above each of the four vocal parts of the Kyrie is a recorder seen in side profile. Although soprano, alto, tenor and basset instruments are illustrated they do not correspond with the vocal parts: the smallest lies above the tenor voice, for instance. The tenor and basset instruments each have a fontanelle and key; their beaks are clearly depicted. Elsewhere in this manuscript quartets of flutes and viols are similarly depicted, though these are placed correctly above their corresponding vocal parts.

John Hayls

• Richard Low (ca 1681-1688), mezzotint, 30 × 22.5 cm, by Isaac Becket (1652/53-1688) after a painting possibly by John Hayls (1600?-1679). London: National Portrait Gallery, NPG D11698; Washington: Library of Congress, Dayton Miller Collection. Published by John Smith, painter, draughtsman, and engraver (1652-1743). An extravagantly dressed young man sits on a step with a book of music and a letter. He leans against a plinth carved in bas-relief depicting two commedia del'arte actors dancing. Beside him are a violin with flame-shaped sound-holes and an ivory-mounted baroque recorder, very much like those of Hotteterre or Bressan. In the background is an island with a represention of Apollo and the Muses and Pegasus flying above. The identity of Richard Low is not certain, though it has been suggested that he may have been a son or relative of Edward Low (ca 1610-1682), the organist and master of choristers at Christ Church at Oxford from 1631 onward. From the imagery of this work Richard appears to have been an actor and musician.

Jan van den Hecke

• Still Life with a Lobster, Lemons and a Lute (1645), oil on canvas, 121 × 173 cm, Jan van den Hecke (1620-1684). Private Collection. Ref. Bridgeman Art Library (2002: Image ID MHB 90659 - col.) On a draped table in front of a window lie jumbled a lobster, oysters, bread, wine glasses, a candlestick, a napkin, etc. On a smaller table in the foreground are an open music book, sheet music, and a lute underneath the neck of which is a flute. Between the music book and the lute lies what appears to be a small duct-flute, the head and body of which can be seen in side profile.

Cornelis Jansz. de Heem

• The Small Blue Box, canvas, 60 × 84 cm, Cornelis Jansz. de Heem (1631-1695) & Jan Davidsz. de Heem (1605/6-1683/4). Private collection: sold by Hotel Charpentier, Paris, 1-2 April 1954, cat. 30. Ref. Leppert (1977: 63); Paris RIdIM (1999). Amongst the objects littered on a table are a glass, metal containers, cockle shells, fruit, and a duct-flute leaning against a blue casket from which hang some keys. The instrument is probably a recorder the head and two finger-holes of which are visible.
• Still-life, canvas, 180 × 165 cm, Cornelis Jansz. de Heem (1631-1695) & Jan Davidsz. de Heem (1605/6-1683/4). Private collection: sold by Palais Gallery, Paris, 9 June 1961, cat. 5. Ref. Palais Gallery Paris, Catalogue (1967: no. 18); Paris RIdIM (1999). A jumble of fruit lies on a table and a recorder leans against a huge shell and some books. The recorder is easily identifiable; there is little or no bell-flare.
• Still-life (1657), oil on canvas, 94 × 118 cm, Cornelis Jansz. de Heem (1631-1695). Frankfurt am Main: Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie, Inv. No. 708. Ref. Bildarchiv Foto Marburg (2002: DISKUS-Objekt-Dokument 00004527 - b&w). On a table lie scattered flowers, fruit, a framed portrait, a nautilus shell, and a soprano-sized hand fluyt, perfectly depicted with its beak, window/labium and offset hole for the lowermost finger clearly visible.

Jan Davidsz. de Heem, the Elder

• Still-life, Jan Davidsz. de Heem (1605/6-1683/4). Frankfurt: Städtisches Kunstinstitute, Städtische Galerie. Ref. Munich RIdIM (1999: Fsm 88). An alto recorder leans beside a framed picture.
• Vanitas (1664), 88 × 116 cm, Jan Davidsz. de Heem, the Elder (1605/6 - 1683/4). Brussels: Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique. Ref. Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Catalogue: 208 (1957); Leppert (1979: 11-12, fig. 9 – b&w); Leppert (1979: 11-12, fig. 9 - b&w); Nine Sixteenth Century Dances for four recorders, Schott edition 12157, London (1982, front cover – col.); Rasmussen & Huene (1982:32, fig. four – b&w); The Recorder Magazine (March 1992); Griffioen (1988: 440-441); Archiv Moeck. Shows a flared-bell renaissance-style recorder dramatically erect and leaning against a skull surrounded by flowers, a music score, papers, corn cobs, Kempis' The Imitation of Christ, a book marked 'Reckenigh' (Reckoning) – and a view of Golgotha in the background.
• [Still-life] (1642), oil on canvas, 152 × 206 cm, Jan Davidsz. de Heem (1605/6-1683/4). Locaton unknown: formerly Private Collection, Stockholm; auctioned by Christie's, New York, Important Old Master Paintings, 15 January 1988. Ref. Bergström (1956: fig 167); Griffioen (1988: 440-441). On a table food of all kinds lies scattered. Leaning obliquely against a wall (top right) is a flute. A guitar leans against a smaller table in the foreground, bottom right, on which are shells and another wind instrument (flute or recorder). On a bench in the foreground, bottom left, is a soprano hand-fluyt, very clearly depicted. Said to have been commissioned by King Charles I for Windsor Castle, and later to have been in the collection of George III until 1800. It appeared at auction in Amsterdam in 1912, and later passed into a Swedish private collection.
• [Still-life] (1642), 115 × 186 cm, Jan Davidsz. de Heem (1605/6-1683/4). Vienna: Akademie der bildenden Künste. Ref. Bergström (1956: fig. 168); Leppert (1977: 65); Griffioen (1988: 440-441). A table is covered in food of all kind at which a parrot is pecking, and there is a shiny gold platter, deeply embossed. In the bottom left corner is a crumpled piece of music where the artist has signed his name. Immediately above is a splendidly plainted cylindrical alto-sized recorder in a beautiful brownish wood. A silver goblet tunred on its side obscures the windway outlet, but the start of the labium chamfer can just be made out. The base of the goblet obscures two finger-holes, but four others in line are then seeen with a little-finger hole offset to the left. The bore opening is msall in relation to the thickness of the wood at the bell-end, but the bore further up could easily be wider.
• Ornamental Still-life, Jan Davidsz. de Heem (1605/6-1683/4). The Hague: Mauritshuis, Cat. 48. Ref. Leppert (1977: 64); CD Bach on Recorder, RN Classics 93010 (1995: cover – col.) Depicts a flared-bell, alto recorder leaning against a small table with a casket, shells, a ham and various fruit, including the obligatory peeled lemon.
• Meal Served, Jan Davidszs. de Heem (1605/6-1683/4). Location Unknown: Private Collection. Ref. Leppert 91977: 64). A still life with a number of musical instruments on a table, including guitar, lute, flutes and a recorder (with seven finger-holes visible).
• Pronk Still-Life (1665-1670), canvas, 139.2 × 115.1 cm, Jan Davidsz. de Heem (1605/6-1683/4). Utrecht: Centraalmuseum, Inv. No. 10231. Ref. Leppert (1977: 64); Centraalmuseum, Utrecht (2001); Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2001); Sidén (2001: 141, pl. 2, detail - col.) Objects on and beside a table include glass vases, fruit and other food, shells, an inkwell and quill, a lute, rebec and a recorder (only the end of which is visible from underneath the upturned lute). The recorder is possibly of alto size; a flared foot and bell bore are present; and there are paired holes for the lowermost finger.
• Still-life with Lobster, canvas, 50 × 46 cm, Jan Davidsz. de Heem (1605/6-1683/4). Verviers: Musée communal des Beaux-arts et de la Céramique , cat. 80. Ref. Leppert (1977: 65). Amongst the objects on the table is a recorder, five finger-holes of which are visible.
• Collation in Danger [Still-life] (1650-1695), Jan Davidsz. de Heem (1605/6-1683/4) and Cornelis Jansz. de Heem (1631-1695). Brussels: Museé de Ville, Wilson Collection. Ref. Leppert (1977: 66). Amongst the objects on a table are a several musical instruments including a lute, a viol, a recorder (with six finger-holes visible), and a duct flute (possibly a tabor-pipe, with one finger-hole visible).
• Still-life, 49 × 64 cm, Jan Davidsz. de Heem (1605/6-1683/4). Location unknown: sold Devuyst, Lokeren, Belgium, 20 February 1982, No. 180. Ref. Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague ex Ruth van Baak Griffioen (pers. comm., 2003). On a draped table lie books, papers, a wine-glass, a skull, and a hand-fluyt in two-pieces, in contrasting materials, possibly ivory (head) and wood (body).
• Still-life (1652), 56 × 40 cm, Jan Davidsz. de Heem (1605/6-1683/4). Prague: Národní Muzeum, Inv. DO-5048. Ref. Museum Catalogue (1961: no. 25); Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague ex Ruth van Baak Griffioen (pers. comm., 2003). On a ledge in an alcove are a purse, a candlestick and candle, flowers, a watch, a ? powder-horn, papers, the top part of a skull on the cranium of which a fly crawls, and a hand-fluyt in two-pieces, in contrasting materials, possibly ivory (head) and wood (body). A bee and another insect crawl around the edge of the alcove above which is a notice (illegible in photocopy). There is an almost identical painting in the Nostitz-Rieneck Gallery, Prague, which depicts a different recorder.
• Still-life (1652), 56 × 40 cm, Jan Davidsz. de Heem (1605/6-1683/4). Prague: Nostitz-Reinicke Gallery. Ref. Museum Catalogue (1905: no. 87); Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague ex Ruth van Baak Griffioen (pers. comm., 2003); Debra Pring (pers. comm., 2007). On a ledge in an alcove are a purse, a candlestick and candle, flowers, a watch, a ? powder-horn, papers, the top part of a skull on the cranium of which a fly crawls, and a hand-fluyt in one piece, but with the curved beak of a baroque recorder. A bee and another insect crawl around the edge of the alcove above which is a notice that reads

  Hoe datje pijpt of hoeje fluyt, o mensch, dit is u erue, t' sij Rijck arm geleert of bolt, dat [leeuen? leeven?]) heeft moet sterve.

  which might be translated as

  The way you play the flute reflects your character. Whether you are rich or poor, learned or not, all life ends with death.

  Underneath the ledge is carved the word SPIEGEL (mirror), indicating that the viewer should contemplate this himself. There is an almost identical painting in the Národní Muzeum, Prague, which depicts a different recorder.

Egbert (Jaspersz.) van Heemskerck I

• Cabaret Scene, oil on canvas, 61 × 81.5 cm, Egbert van Heemskerck I (1634/5-1704). Lille: Musée des Beaux-Arts, Inv. P 1029. Ref. Joconde Website (1999). A tavern interior with men and women, drinking, playing, talking, dancing, smoking; a man with a duct-flute (flageolet or recorder); fire tongs; a pot, a basket. Not seen.
• Interior of an Inn with a Recorder Player, Egbert van Heemskerck I (ca 1634/5-1704). Venice: Galleria Giorgio Franchetti, Ca' d'Oro. The recorder player has a flared alto hand fluyt, the window/labium of which is clear. Both hands are on the instrument, the right hand lowermost. One hole is visible between the hands. The player also carries a stick, and two pipes (? bagpipes). Three oldish men are seated at a table, one singing from music held in his hand.
• Tavern Scene – Musical Gathering of Peasants, engraving, Egbert van Heemskerck I (1634/5-1704). Vienna: Albertina Cat. 9129. Ref. Bernt (1948-1980, 4: fig. 284 – b&w). In a tavern, five men are gathered around a table, two sitting and two standing. On the left, a man sits singing from a manuscript, a second stands leaning over his shoulder. On the right, a man sits playing the violin; another stands singing; a fifth sits huddled between them. A servant brings a tankard of beer down some steps. On the table between the musicians are a pitcher and the lower part of a small pipe, possibly a hand fluyt.
• Adoration of the Shepherds, Egbert van Heemskerck I (1634/5-1704). The Hague: Maritshuis, Cat. 51. Ref. Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (2001); Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2001). Currently on loan to Frans Hals Museum, Harlem. May include a recorder. Only a small, blured reproduction seen.

Maarten van Heemskerck (1498-1574), Netherlandish

• Concert of Apollo and the Muses on Mount Helicon (1565), oil on panel, 103.5 × 130.2 cm, Maarten van Heemskerck (1498-1574). New Orleans (Louisiana): Museum of Art, Inv. 92.163 Ref. Anonymous (1982 - col.); Slim (?date: 44, pl. 2 - b&w); Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2001). Apollo plays his lyre to the accompaniment of one of the Muses who plays the organ, surrounded by an audience of admiring Muses. In the foreground, against the organ pedestal, leans a cylindrical tenor recorder with a window/labium and six large finger-holes clearly visible. Although the foot of the instrument extends beyond the bottom edge of the painting, an offset hole for the little finger of the lowermost hand can possibly be made out. A second recorder of alto size lies beside a harp on a rocky outcrop, the beak, window/labium and finger-holes clearly visible. A third wind instrument can be seen on the ground at the bottom right, above two flutes. However, this last instrument is partly draped and the foot extends beyond the right-hand edge of the painting, so it may be a shawm rather than a recorder. There is another version of this work at the Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk (Slim, ?date: 44).
• Concert of Apollo and the Muses on Mount Helicon (1565), oil on panel, 103.5 × 130.2 cm, Maarten van Heemskerck (1498-1574). Norfolk (Virginia): Chrysler Museum of Art, Inv. 92.163. Ref. Slim (?date: 44, pl. 1 - b&w); Chrysler Museum (1991: 16-17, pl. 14-col.); Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2001). Apollo plays his lyre to the accompaniment of one of the Muses who plays the organ, surrounded by an audience of admiring Muses. In the foreground, against the organ pedestal, leans a cylindrical tenor recorder with a window/labium and six large finger-holes clearly visible. Although the foot of the instrument extends beyond the bottom edge of the painting, an offset hole for the little finger of the lowermost hand can possibly be made out. A second recorder of alto size lies beside a harp on a rocky outcrop, the beak, window/labium and finger-holes clearly visible. A third wind instrument can be seen on the ground at the bottom right, above two flutes. However, this last instrument is partly draped and the foot extends beyond the right-hand edge of the painting, so it may be a shawm rather than a recorder. There is another version of this work at the Museum of Art, New Orleans (Slim, ?date: 44).

Willem de Heer (ca 1638-1681), Dutch

• Portrait of a Young Man, drawing, Willem de Heer (ca 1638-1681). Location unknown. Ref. Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie 19277 (2001); Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2001). The young man is depicted as a piping shepherd in pastoral surroundings. His instrument may represent a soprano recorder.

Dirk [Teodoro, Theodoor, Theodor] Helmbreker [Elembrech, Helmbreecker] (1633-1696), Dutch

• Untitled, black chalk drawing, Dirk Helmbreker (1633-1696). Berlin: Kupferstichkabinett (West), Inv. 2795. Ref. Munich RIdIM (1999: Bkk 224). A child holds a small duct-flute (flageolet or recorder) in his left hand, but showing three lower finger-holes. Both the bell end and the bore opening show a slight flare. This is probably a recorder. Notes by Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 1999).
• Peasants Dancing and Making Music in a Landscape, oil on canvas, Dirk Helmbreker (1633-1696). Ref. Gabrius Data Bank (2001). A circle of dancers are accompanied by three musicians atop a plinth who play cittern, violin and a flared-bell pipe (probably a shawm, but possibly a recorder). Auctioned 30 October 1991, unsold (Gabrius, loc. cit.)

Mattheus van Helmont

• Celebration in a Village, canvas, 86 × 117 cm, Mattheus van Helmont (1623-after 1679). Douai: Museé de la Chartreuse, cat. 191. Ref. Leppert (1977: 67). Possibly intended to illustrate the Flemish Proverb: "As the old ones sing, so also the young ones pipe". A rustic street scene in which dancers are accompanied by musicians singing and playing drum, hurdy-gurdy, bagpipe, shawms, and an ambiguous pipe (possibly a recorder or another shawm).

Lodewijk [Lodewyck] van der Helst (17th century), Dutch

• Aucke Stellingwerf (1670), Lodewijk van der Helst (17th century). Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum 1153. Ref. Bernt (169, 2: 509). A man stands at a table, his hands on a large glass ball. Also on the table are a globe and a recorder with a brass sheath at the bell end. Finger-holes ?7, 5 and 4 show but nothing higher. ? A vanitas painting. Notes by Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2000).

Jan Sanders van Hemessen

• Allegory of Love, 109.2 × 97.8 cm, Jan Sanders van Hemessen (ca 1501-1566). Musée de Louvre: sold Rome (1973), 144/5 via del Buboino; auctioned Sotheby's New York, Lot 154, 24 January 2002. Ref. Paris RIdIM (1999); Website: Sotheby's, New York (2002); Rowland-Jones (2000d: 95, fig. 7 - b&w); Gabrius Databank (2007 - col.) A naked women half sits on a four-poster bed holding a lute in her right hand, her left gesturing towards a dog which is trying to climb up to her by way of the bed covers. On a table beside the bed are are some music books and a case from which the feet of two flared-bell recorders project. On a stall in front of the table, across an open music book, lies an alto-sized flared-bell recorder, its beak pointing towards the woman suggestively. Under the stall is another case from which part of another wind instrument projects. Above the bed is an oval painting which appears to depict Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
  
  "As in Titian's Venus of Urbino we are expected to assume that the husband is approaching his naked bride; his desire for her, and its spiritual aspect, is symbolised by the nearest element in the allegory, one recorder resting on music. Their marital harmony and its permance is symbolised by two recorders, the right-hand one (from the playing end) being slighlty larger, in close juxtaposition like a double pipe, and protruding from the case in which they are housed. The dog signifies loyalty, and the lute impending pregnancy. The lute, too, has its case – symbolising the cradle – where it is permanently kept, protected by the wife's outstretched leg." (Anthony Rowland-Jones, pers. comm., 2000).

Jean-Jacques Henner

• Idylle or La Fontaine ca 1872), oil on canvas, 74.l × 61.5 cm, Jean-Jacques Henner (1829-1905). Paris: Musée d'Orsay, Inv. RF95. Ref. Forneris & Debrbandère-Descamps (1991: 154-155); Joconde (2003 - col). Beside a fountain, against the backdrop of a wooded hill, a naked woman watches a seated woman play a very slender ambiguous pipe. Joconde index this instrument as a flûte à bec.
• Nymphes à la source, oil on canvas, 36 × 163 cm, Jean-Jacques Henner (1829-1905). Mâcon: Musée des Ursulines, A.965. Ref. Joconde (2003 - col.) Beside a lake in hilly countryside a naked nymph leans against a wall, listening to another naked nymph seated on the grass playing a cylindrical pipe. Joconde index this instrument as a flûte à bec.

HB-Henriot

• The Magic Flute, faïence festooned platter, 38 × 28 cm, HB-Henriot Taos: The House of Taos Gallery, Vieux Quimper Collection. Ref. Website: The House of Taos Gallery (2006 - col.) On a beach with a harbour in the background, a lad plays a small pipe with a flared bell to his girl. Both are in traditional dress, including clogs. The pipe looks more like a bombarde than a duct-flute.

Herman Henstenburgh

• Vanitas Still-life, gouache on parchment, 33 × 27.9 cm, Herman Henstenburgh (1667-1726). New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, Inv. 2003.30. Ref. Rebecca Arkenberg (pers. comm., 2003); Arkenberg (2003: 6 & front cover - col.) A human skull rests on the edge of a marble shelf or pedestal, crowned by a garland of flowers. In the background a trail of smoke resies from the stuffed wick of a candle stub, and an hourglass lies on its side. Projecting from under the upper mandible of the skull is a leg bone, its line continued on the other side of the skull by the beak of an ivory recorder. A small book of music with crumpled pages obscures the rest of the recorder. A butterfly perches on the a petal, a snail peers from under a leaf, and tiny, sparkling droplets of water are sprinkled on a blossom. The score is partly legible. This is an unusual and beautiful work.

Heraclius (active 610-641), Cypriot

• The Marriage of David (610-629), silver dish, 27.6 cm diameter, Haraclius (active 610-641). Detail 1, detail 2. Nicosia (Lefkara): Cyprus Archaeological Museum. Ref. Schug-Wille (1969: 132 – b&w). The wedding party are serenaded on each side by musicians playing flared pipes, but neither window/labium nor finger-holes are visible.

Jan de Herdt

• Hermione among the Shepherds (1667), canvas, 154 × 140 cm, Jan de Herdt (fl. 1646-1668). Vienna: Kunsthisorisches Museum. Ref. Paris RIdIM (1999). Hermione, in light armour, leans against her spear; a bearded shepherd (with some sort of net draped over his knee) kneels before her. A young lad plays a long slender pipe with a greatly flared bell, more like a shawm than a recorder, though the player's lips seem very relaxed. Two other young shepherds look on.

Friedrich Herlin

• Altar of the Twelve Apostles, panel: The Story of Jacob (1466), Friedrich Herlin (1425/1430 - 1500). Rothenburg ob der Tauber: St Jacob's Church, high altar. Ref. Bruning & Koch (1986: 658-659 - col.); Liesbeth van der Sluis (2003, pers. comm.) Includes a shepherd wearing a staw hat and a cowl holding an alto-sized recorder with an unusual head which lacks a beak.

Gangolf Herlinger (16th century), Czech

• Altarpiece: Coronation of the Virgin (ca 1520), Gangolf Herlinger. Osek (Czech Republic): Cistercian Monastery. Ref. Tibia 3 (1980); Thomson & Rowland-Jones (1995: 37, fig. 12); Hijmans (2005: 217). Shows three consorts of musicians: a trio of cylindrical recorders, a quartet of crumhorns, and three cornetts with a large sackbut.

Paul Hermans

• Muse Euterpe, painted dressing screen (panel), 60 × 120 cm, Paul Hermans (contemporary). A standing woman in side profile plays a slender slightly conical recorder. Although the instrument is shaped like a tin whistle, the hole for the little finger of the lowermost (right) hand can be seen clearly.

Willem I van Herp [Guilliam]

• Mercury and Argus, oil on canvas, Willem I van Herp [Guilliam] (1614-1677) Location unknown. Ref. Gabrius Data Bank, (2002- b&w). Argus leans wearily on his staff, watched by his dog, his cows gazing meekly behind him. Mercury (Hermes) reaches for his knife, his bone pipe cast aside. The pipe is a probably a duct-flute, given the hint of a beak, window/labium, and flared bell. This appears to be a copy of the painting by Jordaens in the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.

Louis Hersent

• Daphnis and Chloe: The Flute Lesson, oil on canvas, Louis Hersent (1777-1860). Reg. Gabrius Data Bank, (2002 - col.); Rowland-Jones (2002d: 96-97, fig. 10 - b&w). Location Unknown: Auctioned by Sotheby's, 23 May 1997 (sold). Daphnis, reclining on a grassy bank, teaches Chloe to play two sopranino recorders at once. She leans against him, a dog asleep at her feet. On each instrument, the window/labium and offset finger-hole for the lowermost finger are clearly visible. Beyond them dear browse the foliage at the head of a beautiful valley.

Stanley Hess

• Serenader (ca 1980), drawing, Stanley Hess (op. 1951-1995). USA: Location unknown. Ref. American Recorder 21 (2): front cover (1980 - b&w); Hess (1980: 57, fig.2 - b&w). A decorated boxwood recorder head depicting a kneeling boy seen in side profile playing a neo-baroque recorder. In the event the woodcarving turned out rather differently (see below).
• Serenader (ca 1980), woodcarving, Stanley Hess (op. 1951-1995). USA: Location unknown. Ref. Hess (1980: 57, fig.2 - b&w). A decorated boxwood recorder head depicting a boy seen in front profile playing a neo-baroque recorder.

Willem [Guillaume] de Heusch

• Landscape, canvas, 75 × 82 cm, Willem de Heusch (1625-1692). Location unknown: sold Bois de Caron, ?City, 2 May 1966. Ref. Paris RIdIM (1999). Against the background of a landscape with water and a temple, a half naked woman leans against her lover who plays a small flared pipe, quite possibly a recorder in this context.

Edna Hibel

• The Recorder (1998), serigraph, 89 × 65.6 cm, Edna Hibel (1917-). Riviera Beach, Florida: Hibel Studio. A young woman in an elaborate headscarf and a floral gown holds a green conical pipe, which must be a recorder, given the title.

Edith Hipkins

• A double flageolet, a German flute, a bass recorder, a double flageolet and a recorder (1888), coloured lithograph, from Musical Instruments: Historic, Rare and Unique by Alfred James Hipkins, published by A & C Black, Edinburgh, Edith Hipkins (op. 1880-1940). Manchester: University Library; UK: Stapelton Collection. Ref. Bridgeman Art Library, STC 84205 (1003 - col.) Lifelike illustrations of wind instruments, including a baroque bass recorder with bocal, and an alto recorder of unusual design with beak and mounts in a darker wood than the body. The original lithograph may exist amongst the Hipkins' papers at the University of London (Library - Senate House).

Veit Hirschvogel [Hirsfogel, Hirsvogel] the elder

• The Trinity, drawing (Scheibenriss), workshop of Veit I Hirsvoegel (1461-1525). Location unknown: sold Boerner, Düsseldorf (?1972). Ref. Sale Catalogue 57 (?1972: no. 25); Rasmussen (1999b). "Angels play harp (left), and lute and recorder (right)" (Rasmussen, loc. cit.) Not seen.

Anton Hoch (1906-1970), German

• Pair of Fauns, pen & ink drawing, Anton Hoch (1906-1970). Cologne: Private Collection, Aurelius Donath Ref. CD cover: Concert de Chambre, Ensemble Arion (1999), Marc Aurel Edition MA971. A faun sits piping on a stylized pipe whilst a nymph languishes beside him. The CD features the recorder playing of Kay Schumacher.

John Evan Hodgson (1831-1895), English

• A Philharmonic Rehearsal in a Farmhouse (1860), John Evan Hodgson (1831-1895). Wolverhampton: Art Gallery. Ref. Bridgeman Art Library (2002: Image ID WAG 13320 - col.) A group of musicans rehearse together watched by a young child and a small dog. One of their company comes in at the door, a baby in a papoose on his back! An old man sits by the fire which is tended by a woman. The instruments are a cello, a violin and a clarinet (which the Bridgeman Art Library index as a recorder).

Jan van den Hoecke

• Allegory of Love [Amor vincitore], Jan van den Hoecke (1611-1651) & Paul de Vos (ca 1596-1678). Location unknown: formerly Collection R. Chasles; sold Brussels 16 December 1929, no. 38 as by Jan Fyt & Abraham Bosschaert. Ref. Leppert (1977: 68); Rasmussen (2002, Horn). An allegorical still-life depicting harp, lute, rebec, flute, horns, and a duct-flute (possibly a recorder, but only the beak visible). "Depicts Amor with an allegorical still life. Musical instruments include a curved horn and a horn which seems a random snarl of curves, as well as a pochette, a harp, a theorbo-lute, a flute and a recorder" (Rasmussen, loc. cit.)
• Allegory of Love, Jan van den Hoecke (1611-1651) & Paul de Vos (ca 1596-1678). Location unknown. Ref. Mirimonde (?date-4: 325, fig. 11). Next to Mars' divested armour and helmet are two duct-flutes (flageolets or recorders). One, leaning against a globe, shows six holes. The other has only the two upper holes showing. These are doubtfully recorders. Notes by Anthony Rowland-Jones, pers. comm. (1999).
• Allegory of Love, Jan van den Hoecke (1611-1651) & Paul de Vos. Stockholm. Ref. Mirimonde (?date-4: 325, fig. 10). Another version of the above with more instruments and two duct-flutes (flageolets or recorders) the finger-holes of which are not clearly depicted. Notes by Anthony Rowland-Jones, pers. comm. (1999).
• Still-life, oil on canvas, Jan van den Hoecke. Ref. Gabrius Data Bank (2001 - col.) Beneath a velvet, tasselled curtain on and around a draped table are a basket of fruit, an overturned tazza, a gilt cup, a nautilus shell, an ornate goblet, lemons and other objects, a lute and a cylindrical recorder of tenor-size, the window/labium and two or three finger-holes of which are visible.

Gérard Hoet the elder

• Young Man playing a Flute, pastel on paper, Gérard Hoet the Elder (1648-1733). Orléans: Musée des Beaux-Arts. Ref. Pottier (1992: 52, pl. XXXVIII; 1995: 136, pl. 2); Museum of Fine Arts, Orléans: postcard; Bridgeman Art Library (2003: Image GIR 206931 - col.) A young lad plays a small, flared-bell recorder with a turned foot; an open music book lies on a bench before him.
• Octoberfest Amongst Antique Ruins, painting, Gérard Hoet the Elder (1648-1733). Location unknown. Ref. Website: klassiskgitar.net (2007 - col.) A crowd of people cavort amongst ancient ruins. A central figure plays the lyre, a woman behind him plays the tambourine (with jingle rings) and a man plays a slender pipe (possibly a duct-flute, although no details are visible).

Nicholas van Hoey [Nikolaas van Hoy OR Hoje]

• The Painter's Family, Nicholas van Hoey (1631-1679). Munich: Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Inv. 5434 (old), 7369 (new). Ref. Munich RIdIM (1999: Mstg 285). The painter's son and two daughters all hold duct-flutes (possibly recorders). The clearest depicted is one held by the girl at the right whose instrument is beak downwards, obscuring the window/labium. But the likelihood is that they are all intended to be recorders, displaying the family's musical insterest and skill. Notes by Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 1999).

William Hogarth

• Mary's Chapel, print by G. van der Gucht, after William Hogarth. London: British Library. Ref. John A. Parkinson, ed. (1969), George Frideric Handel, Trio Sonata in G Minor, for two flutes … and basso continuo, Sonata da Camera S8, Oxford University Press, London (rear cover). A chamber music concert featuring cello, three violins, harpsichord, double bass, cello, flute, and a recorder (indistinctly drawn, though the window/labium is clearly depicted).

Jacob Hogers

• The Meeting of Jephthah with his Daughter, Jacob Hogers (1614 - ca 1660). Nuremberg: Germanisches Nationalmuseum, 395. Ref. Postcard: Germanische Nationalmuseum, GM 395. Jephthah's daughter holds out a wreath to her father as he gallops forth on horseback. Immediately behind her are female musicians singing and playing flute, lute, and an ambiguous pipe which may be meant to represent a recorder. On the pillars of an archway in the background are two trumpeters. Even close inspection fails to reveal enough detail for sure identification (Anthony Rowland-Jones, pers. comm. 1999).

Hans Holbein

• Untitled, mural, Hans Holbein. Nuremberg. Ref. Lane (1982: 97 - b&w). Musicians play from a balcony on shawms and trombone. Behind them stands a drummer and a flautist. Beside them, sitting astride the balcony, is a young boy wearing a hat and holding a small cylindrical duct-flute, probably a recorder.

William Hole

• From Michael Drayton's Poly-Olbion: Glamorgan and Monmouthshire (1612 & 1622), engraved map, 25.4 × 33 cm, William Hole (op. 1607-1624). London: British Library, Shelfmark 79.h.2 – 1612 edition; Cambridge: St John's College Library, Classmark Bb.4.14(1) – 1922 edition; Oxford: Mallams, copy of this map auctioned 25 February 2004, Lot 243 (sold). Ref. Michael Fleming ex Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2006). Drayton's massive topgraphical poem Poly-Olbion was printed [by Humphrey Lownes and Augustine Mathewes] for Iohn Marriott, John Grismand, and Thomas Dewe, in London. Hole provided the frontispiece and a number of maps. The latter are of little geographical value showing only rivers and major hills (probably as decoration) with allegorical figures placed at rivers etc. In that for Glamorgan and Monmouthshire musicians on either side of the Severn play a myriad of instruments. Those on the N side of the river are all in the soft category which at least suggests that amongst the direct-blown wind-instruments a recorder might be depicted (Rowland-Jones, pers. comm.,)

Abraham Danielsz. Hondius

• Mercury, Argus and Io, painting, Abraham Danielsz. Hondius (1625-30 - 1691). Location unknown: auctioned 07 April 2006 (sold). Ref. Gabrius Data Bank (2007 - col.) Mercury pipes on a slenderly conical pipe to a drowsly Argus sitting beside him on a ledge beside a field. Io, as a heifer, looks on; a dog sleeps at Argus' feet. There are more than enough finger-holes on the pipe for it to represent a recorder, though no other details are visible.

Hendrik I Hondius (1573 - p. 1649) – see Tadeus Zuccaro (1529-1566)

Nathaniel Hone the elder (1718-1784), Irish

• The Piping Boy (1768), oil on canvas, 36 × 31 cm, Nathaniel Hone, the elder (1718-1784). Dublin: National Gallery of Ireland, Cat. No. 440). Ref. National Gallery of Ireland: postcard; Boydell (1985: pl. 8 - col.); Thomson & Rowland-Jones (1995: 189, fig. 38). John Camillus, son of the artist, plays a one-piece recorder, the beak, window/labium and finger-holes are clearly depicted, but the foot is obscured. Hone made an etching of this painting in 1771 (artnet.com, 2001)

Gerrit (Gerard) van Honthorst (also Gherardo della Notte)

• Recorder Player, Gerrit van Honthorst (1590-1656). Bremen: Private collection. Ref. Thomson & Rowland-Jones (1995: 191, pl. 39 – b&w). A young man in a plumed hat and wearing a scarf plays a perfectly depicted hand-fluyt with a maker's mark visible beneath the window/labium.
• Pastoral (1632), canvas, 92 × 174.5 cm, Gerrit van Honthorst (1590-1656). Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum, SK-A-3270. Ref. Rasmussen & Huene (1982: 30, fig. 1, b&w); Kettering (1983: fig. 128); Griffioen (1988: 440-441). Encouraged by a shepherdess, a shepherd plays a narrow, one-piece, flared-profile alto recorder expanding gradually from beak to foot to two admiring women, both scantily clad. A third shepherdess points to the shepherds pipe, but is warned off by one of his admirers.
• Pastoral Scene, 100 × 95 cm, Gerrit van Honthorst (1590-1656). Moscow: Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. Ref. Kettering (1983: fig. 106); Griffioen (1988: 440-441); Paris RIdIM (1999). A shepherd in a loose cloak leans on a table playing a slender transitional style recorder to a smiling sheherdess with flowers in her hair. The recorder is of alto-size, cylindrical with a distinctively turned bell with a rounded outline. On the table lie some crusts of bread and some fruit.
• [Title unknown], painting, Gerrit van Honthorst (1590-1656). Location unknown: Sotheby's, London, 9 December 1987, Lot 78, Ref. Warburg Institute. A laughing woman, seated, holds up a recorder (hand fluyt) pointing down to a book of music (possibly decipherable). Balanced precariously in her ear is a large, cut rose. Notes by Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 1999).
• [Title unknown], Gerrit van Honthorst (1590-1656). Bordentown, New Jersey: Joseph Bonaparte Collection. Ref. Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie 33577 (2001); Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2001). A satyr offers a bowl of fruit to a company of four young persons with musical instruments. Includes a clearly depicted recorder of soprano/alto size held in the left hand.
• A Musical Party, oil on canvas, Gerrit van Honthorst (1590-1656). Ref. Gabrius Data Bank, OMP (2002-b&w). Two rather vulgar looking woman hold a violin and a lute. Behind them a man in the shadows plays a pipe, probably a recorder. The violinist holds a half-empty glass precariously on one side and seems a little under the weather.
• [Shepherd with a Recorder], oil on canvas, 83.5 × 62 cm, ? Gerrit van Honthorst (1590-1656). Location unknown: sold Frankfurt, 15 June 1920. Ref. Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague ex Ruth van Baak Griffioen (pers. comm., 2003). This work has been attributed to both the Bolognese and Utrecht Schools. A shepherd in a leafy hat holds his crook over his right arm whilst holding a hand-fluyt in his left, the beak, window/labium, finger-holes and bell clearly depicted.
• Apollo and Pan, Gerrit van Honthorst (1590-1656). Národní Galerie, Šternberský Palác [National Gallery, Sternberg Palace], Inv. 0-5261. Ref. Ferino-Pagden (2001: 199). As Pan watches Apollo playing his viola da braccio. Apollo and Pan, Gerrit van Honthorst (1590-1656). Národní Galerie, Šternberský Palác [National Gallery, Sternberg Palace], Inv. 0-5261. Ref. Ferino-Pagden (2001: 199). As Pan watches Apollo playing his viola da braccio. King Midas has his hands on Pan's shoulders, indicating his preference. Between them, Timolus points to Apollo indicating that he is the real victor. Pan holds in his left hand a soprano-sized cylindrical duct-flute (possibly a recorder) with a sharply beaked mouthpiece and a rather triangularly-shaped window/labium. The beak, window/labium and four finger-holes are visible before the clutching hand. Curiously, both Apollo's bowing hand and Pan's recorder-grasping hand are tinged red.
• Adoration of the Shepherds, Gerrit van Honthorst (1590-1656). Florence: Galleria degli Uffizi. Ref. Postcard: Uffizi, III-9-19 A 15/65 (col.); Walter Bergmann (ex Anthony Rowland-Jones, pers. comm., 2003). A nativity scene in which the shepherds pay homage to the Christ-Child. One of the shepherds, leaning against his staff, holds a duct-flute in his right hand, the window/labium clearly depicted, but no other details.
• Flute Player, oil on canvas, 107 × 85.5 cm, Gerrit van Honthorst (1590-1656). Schwerin: State Museum. A man leaning backwards at a windowsill holds a cylindrical duct-flute (probably a recorder) in his right hand. A possible pendant to The Merry Fiddler (Rijkmuseum, Amsterdam) with which it shares the dimensions, the height of the windowsill, the space in front of the painting, and the musical subject.

Pieter de Hooch (also spelled Hoogh, or Hooghe)

• Portrait of a Family making Music (ca 1663), oil on canvas, 98.7 × 116.7 cm., Pieter de Hooch (1629-1683). Detail. Cleveland: Museum of Art, 51.355. Ref. Brown & Lascelle (1972: 105-108 – b&w); Sutton (1980: pl. xii); Ford (1991: #181, pl. 23A); Griffioen (1988: 440-441); Griffioen (1991: 390, footnote 26); Thomson & Rowland-Jones (1995: 82, pl. 23A – b&w; Kersten & Lokin (1996: 157-158, fig. 152 – col.); Walls (1999: 14, fig. 8 – b&w); Rowland-Jones (2000b: fig.-b&w; 2000c: 87; 2002b: 48, pl. 3 – b&w). In a well-appointed room, members of a family play music around a table. A female singer/conductor is accompanied by her son on a flared-bell soprano all-ivory recorder, her daughter on cittern, and her husband on violin. A bass viol is propped up in the corner. A nurse with younger members of the family look on, as does a dog. "Another generation to continue a life of virtuous family harmony, supported by loyalty (the dog) and a firm foundation (the bass viol)" (Rowland-Jones 2000b, loc. cit.)
• Flautist and Cittern Player (> 1680), Pieter de Hooch (1629-1684). Location unknown; formerly Private Collection, Berlin. Ref. Valentiner (1929: 171); Rowland-Jones (2000b: fig – b&w). Watched by a servant girl, a couple (probably a husband and wife) pose with their instruments: she plays a cittern, seated; also seated, he holds an alto recorder in playing position with a flared bell and a protective brass sheath around the mouthpiece. A dog sits beside them staring out of the picture. Instruments with similar metal sheaths are depicted by Vermeulen, Collier, Steenwyck and others.
• A Woman with a Lute and a Man with a Flute (> 1680, 59.2 × 45.7 cm, Pieter de Hooch (1629-1684). Present whereabouts unknown: Christie's, New York, 13 May 1989, no. 34. Ref. Sutton (1980: no. 158; 1998: Addendum, no. 166); Rowland-Jones (2000c: 101, pl. 6 - b&w). A couple (probably a husband and wife, different and younger than the above) pose with their instruments: she plays a cittern (not a lute), seated; standing, he holds an alto recorder with a flared bell and a protective brass sheath around the mouthpiece. A servant girl hovers in the background. The fact that the instruments are identical to those in the above picture suggests that they were studio props to offer to married couples for their picture. Recorders with similar metal sheaths are depicted by Vermeulen, Collier, Steenwyck and others.
• Musical Company in an interior, oil on canvas laid down on board 58.4 × 45.4 cm, Pieter de Hooch (1629-1684). New York: Lawrence Steigrad. Ref. Sutton (1998: 182, #166); Christies (New York), Sale 2135: Important Old Master Paintings and Sculptures, 28 January 2009, Lot 258. A seated woman plays a somewhat ambiguously depicted lute, a score in her lap. Beside her a man holds an alto or tenor recorder with a flared bell in one hand and waves with his other as if beating time. Curiously, his left foot is placed on an elaborate foot-stool, which might be of more use to his companion. Behind them a woman with her back to us plays a harpsichord.
• Luthier in his Room, Pieter de Hooch (1629-1684). Paris: Collection (?Omer) Bouchery. Ref. Paris RIdIM (1999). A luthier sits beside a double-manual keyboard instrument holding something unidentifiable. In the front right-hand corner stands a viol. On the wall behind him, hanging upside-down, are three similar flared-bell pipes of the same size. They have ornate turned flared bells, but their mouthpieces are very narrow and there is insufficient detail to tell if they are intended to represent duct-flutes or reed instruments.
• A Guardroom Interior, oil on canvas, Pieter de Hooch (1629-1683). Ref. Gabrius Data Bank (2002 - col.) In a guardroom a smiling officer toasts his men, one of whom plays a slender cylindrical pipe (possibly a recorder).
• A Lady and a Gentleman Making Music with Dancing Dogs, oil on canvas, 60 × 50 cm, Pieter de Hooch (1629-1683). Location unknown: auctioned Amsterdam, 13 April 1929. Ref. Valentiner (1930: 174); Gabrius Data Bank (2002-col.) A man plays a pipe (probably a recorder) from music open on top of a spinet as an elegantly dressed lady in what appears to be a silk gown conducts two dancing dogs, one a poodle, the other a spaniel. Hooch's Pooches!

Samuel van Hoogstraten [Hoogestraten]

• Life-study of a Seated Man Holding a Flute (ca 1646), drawing, attributed to Samuel van Hoogstraten (1627-1678). London: British Museum. Ref. Royalton-Kisch (1992: No. 98); Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2001) "A young man, half sitting and half leaning holds, in a nearly vertical position, a slender duct-flute of alto/tenor size. His lower (right) hand seems in position to cover four holes; his left clutches the instrument but would cover any upper finger-holes. The beak and window/labium are clear. There is no bell expansion." Notes by Rowland-Jones (loc. cit.)

Jan Josef [Jean-Joseph, Jan Joseph, Jan Jozef] Horemans [le Clair]

• Tea-time at Johanna de Lasande's (late 18th century), Jan Josef Horemans II (1714-p.1790). Nuremberg: Germanisches Nationalmuseum. Ref. Capri(1973, 3 - col.); Angelo Zaniol (pers. comm., 2003). A cello leans against an upholstered chair on the seat of which lie a music book, a violin and bow, and a baroque alto recorder, only the head of which is visible. Over the back hangs a horn; a second horn lies beneath the chair partly hidden by some books of music. Through a gate in the background two dogs bark at a group of men and women dancing around a pole.

Peter Jakob Horemans

• Musical Still-life with Horn Player, Peter Jakob Horemans (1700-1776). Munich: Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Inv. 2949 (2350). Ref. Munich RIdIM (1999: Mstag 316). The head of an alto recorder is tucked between the pages of a book – a most unusual bookmark! Notes by Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 1999).
• Portrait of a Court Musician with String Instruments (1762), oil on canvas, 65 × 80 cm, Peter Jakob Horemans (1700-1776). Munich: Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Inv. Mu 280. Ref. Munich RIdIM (2002: Mbnm-29a); Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2002); Bowles (2002: 243, pl. 265 - b&w). In a pillared, marbelled hall a musician sits at a long cloth-covered table surrounded by musical instruments including lute, violins, viols, cello, horns, bassoon and a number of wind instruments, notably an alto baroque recorder (only the head and part of the body visible) on the table and, in the right-hand corner, a tenor baroque recorder (maker's mark visible). Two other wind instruments lie on the table, but only their bells are visible; one appears to be an oboe, but the other may represent a recorder. One of a series of paintings of court musicians commissioned by the Elector, Johann Theodor. There is a print of this, also in the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Munich.
• Portrait of a Court Musician and Instruments, Peter Jakob Horemans (1700-1776). Munich: Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Print Collection, Inv. 2973 (2330). Ref. Munich RIdIM (1999: Mstag 312). A print of an original painting, also in the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Munich. In a pillared, marbelled hall a musician sits at a long cloth-covered table surrounded by musical instruments including lute, violins, viols, cello, horns, bassoon and a number of wind instruments, notably an alto baroque recorder (only the head and part of the body visible) on the table and, in the right-hand corner, a tenor baroque recorder (maker's mark visible). Two other wind instruments lie on the table, but only their bells are visible; one appears to be an oboe, but the other may represent a recorder.
• Concert at the Court of Ismaning (1733), oil on canvas, 186 × 240.5 cm, Peter Jakob Horemans (1700-1776). Munich: Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Inv. R 7159. Ref. Munich RIdIM (1999: Mbnm-29); Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2002). A musical ensemble plays for a group of courtiers. The ensemble comprises harpsichord, viol, volin, transverse flute and two singers (castrati). On the floor to the left, behind the harpsichordist, sits a little boy who holds a small baroque-style recorder in one hand and a piece of music in the other.
• Concert, Peter Jakob Horemans (1700-1776). Munich: La Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus de Monaco. Ref. Archiv für Kunst und Geschichte, Berlin; LP cover: G.B. Bononcini, Divertimenti da Camera, Archiv 2533 167; Angelo Zaniol (pers. comm., 2003). Seven musicians play violins, oboe, lute, ? bassoon, cello and a recorder with a conical body and very widely flared bell. Details of the window/labium, and finger-holes are clearly depicted. One of the violinist's has stopped to take a swig from a wine-bottle! In the background, left, a man and a woman converse.

Arnold Houbraken

• Parnassus, Arnold Houbraken (1660-1719). Cologne: Wallraf-Richartz-Museum. Ref. Munich RIdIM (1999: KNwr 284). Includes two instruments catalogued as recorders, but neither of the two is clear. Notes by Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 1999).
• The Young Bacchus, Arnold Houbraken (1660-1719). Collection Arthur Rogerson. Ref. Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie 26800 (2001); Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2001). Bacchus plays a slightly flared soprano-sized pipe (possibly a recorder), right hand lowermost with the little finger apparrently covering its hole.
• Pallas Athene visits Apollo on Parnassus, Arnold Houbraken (1660-1719). Dordrecht: Museum (City Art Gallery). Ref. Postcard, Dordrechts Museum (2001-col.); Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2001). Armed to the hilt, Pallas Athene drifts in on a cload to visit Apollo siting in a forest grove surrunded by the Muses some of whom dance and others of whom play musical instruments, including harp, tambourine, transverse flute and a tenor-sized flared pipe which might represent a recorder, although no details of the beak, window/labium or finger-holes are discernible.
• Nocturnal Landscape, oil on canvas, Arnold Houbraken (1660-1719). Ref. Gabrius Data Bank (2002 - col.) On the edge of a forest, against a background of hills, a shepherd plays a small flared-bell recorder to a reclining shepherdess whilst between them a child drinks from a bowl. The shepherd's hands and fingers are well placed for recorder playing with the lowermost little finger poised perfectly above its hole.

Richard Houston

• Hearing (1753), mezzotint, 35.2 × 24.9 cm, after Francis Hayman, Richard Houston (1721/2-1775). New Haven: Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Fund # B1970.3.960. Ref. Leppert (1985: 125, fig. 44 – b&w); Girdham (2002: 403, pl. 5). A young woman stares wistfully at a bird, momentarily uncaged, responding to the tune she has just played. In her hand is a very slender, cylindrical duct-flute. A music book (The Bird Fancier's Delight, perhaps) lies open on the table before her. The instrument is probably a French flageolet, but could represent a recorder as these were also used to train birds to sing.

F.H. van Hove (fl. 1679-1702)

• Title Page: Henry Playford, Deliciae Musicae (1696), engraving by F.H. van Hove (fl. 1679-1702). Published in London. Ref. Pincherlé (1963: 99) . A female singer and her lutenist accompanist sit at a table on which lie music and a narrow, flared recorder in three sections.

John Hudgebut (17th century), English

• Lessons for the Recorder (1682), John Hudgebut. Title Page: John Hudgebut Thesaurus Musicus, London (1693). Ref. Welch (1911/1961: 71, fig. 32); Vinquist (1974: 58, 153-154); Thomson & Rowland-Jones (1995: 126, fig. 30). Possibly intended for a later edition of John Hudgebut's tutor for the recorder, A Vade Mecum (first published in 1679). Shows a consort of three putti, seated on backless stools, playing three baroque recorders (including a basset with bocal) accompanying another who sings; another recorder lies on the table. Legêne (1995: 107) contends that this is the earliest depiction of the baroque recorder in England.

  Richard Luckett (Pepys Librarian, Magdalen College, Cambridge) believes Hotteterre recorders may have been on sale at the French shop in the Strand before Cambert arrived in London in 1673; David Lasocki thinks not (Rowland-Jones, pers comm.)

Hendrik van Hueluwe – See Master of Frankfurt (op. 1460-1520)

Alexandre Huet – see Antoine Avernier, Arnould Bourlin & Alexandre Huet

Jean Baptiste(-Marie) Huet

• Rustic Assignation (1777), oil on canvas, oval, 67.5 × 62.5 cm, Jean Baptiste Huet (1745-1811). Lyon: Musée des Beaux-Arts, Inv. B499 Ref. Joconde Website (1999). A delightfully suggestive composition in the pastoral manner. Two sheep and two doves guard a basket of flowers, a bedroll, a garter and a pipe (flute or flageolet); the owners are noticeably absent. Although the pipe looks like a flute, there are seven finger-holes (in line) and a shadow at the head end could be the window/labium of a recorder as easily as the embouchure hole of a flute.
• The Flute Lesson, Jean Baptiste Huet (1745-1811). Ref. Gabrius Data Bank (2002 - col.) A shepherd plays a flared-bell pipe (possibly a recorder) to a shepherdess sit in the midst of a beautiful landscape. This painting is offered for sale with a pendant depicting what may be the same couple later in life. Here the man helps the woman to her feet while opposite them their two children point to the beautiful landscape beyond.
• Boys Playing Pipes, oil on canvas, Jean Baptiste Huet (1745-1811). Ref. Gabrius Data Bank (2002 - col.) Beneath a tree, two boys play slender cylindrical pipes (possibly recorders) to their watchful dog.

Edward Robert Hughes (1851-1914), English

• Twilight Fantasies (1911), watercolour, 76.7 × 107.9 cm, Edward Robert Hughes (1851-1914). London: Maas Gallery. Ref. Bridgeman Art Library (2003: Image MAA 54993 - col.); Art Magic (2003 - col.) On the edge of a wooded valley peopled with fairies, a cloaked figure leans over a gnarled tree-stump playing a small flared-bell pipe, possibly a duct-flute.

Jaume Huguet

• Vallmoll Altarpiece (1447-1449), Jaume Huguet (1414-1492). Barcelona: Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Cat. 471. Ref. Rowland-Jones (1997: 13, fig. 11 – b&w); Gudiol (1986: 69 - col.); Rowland-Jones (1995: 48, footnote 32). The Virgin and Child, enthroned, are entertained by three singing angels on the left side and three playing cylindrical duct-flutes (probably recorders) on the right.

Pierre-Nicolas Huilliot, the younger

• Still-life with World Map, oil on canvas, 150 × 142 cm, Pierre-Nicolas Huilliot, the younger (1674-1751). Versailles: Château, Inv. MV 7263, INV8969, B 1438 Ref. Joconde Website (1999). A draped table with a vase of flowers, books, a globe, calipers, a transverse flute (only the body of which is visible, the head and foot hidden). Joconde list the instrument as a flûte à bec, in error.
• Still-life, oil on canvas, 40.8 × 46.2 cm, Pierre-Nicolas Huilliot, the younger (1674-1751). New York: Sotheby's, Old Master Paintings, 26 April 2001. Ref. Gabrius Data Bank (2001 - col.); Artfact (2003). A lute, a violin and bow, and a baroque recorder lie together with some sheet music on a table. Only the head of the recorder is visible from behind.

Jan Hulsman (op. ca 1650), Dutch (Amsterdam)

• The Instability of Happiness (ca 1650), Jan Hulsman. Munich: Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, 1123 (2407). Ref. Munich RIdIM (1999: Mstag 326). A sort of vanitas which includes people. A finely dressed woman sits beside a table, her arm around an ornate pitcher. A naked child shows her a soap bubble he has blown from a small pipe held in his right hand and a tiny dish held in his left. On the table is a casket, a highly decorated nautilus shell, a chalice, and a pearl necklace. Opposite (on the rhs) is a huge vase of flowers, games board, a bottle of wine in a wicker basket and other objects. In the foreground and stretching from left to right is a jumble of musical instruments comprising lute, theorbo, violin, rebec, and a recorder (only the head and two finger-holes of which are visible), a music score, an actor's mask, playing cards and a tennis rackett and balls.

Pieter Huys [Peeter Huijs

• The Inferno or The Last Judgement or Grotesque Fantasy (1570), oil on panel, 86 × 82 cm, Pieter Huys (1519/1520 – 1581/1584). Madrid: Museo del Prado, Inv. 2095. Ref. Ibañez & Gallego (1972: 103-104). Has a number of Bosch-style instruments including … at the right, close to the entrance to a cavern, a drummer and a flautist ('flauta da pico') behind a strange herald with a fantastical horn or curved trumpet.

Jean Hympe

• Paradise (1516-1517), stained glass window, Jean Hympe (16th century). Sens: Cathedrale St Etienne, north transept, rose window. Ref. Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2007). Inlcudes many musical angels, some in pairs to left and right of centre. Two angels in green tunics play fairly wide alto-sized cylindrical insruments with slight bell flare. The mouth end is flat against the lips (as with some recorders); they could be shawms, though perhaps not in Paradise. These two lights are close to the centre-vertical, some way above the centre of the entire rose.
  
  Two other angels in green, yellow, red, white and blue play tenor-sized instruments of very strange construction and appear to be double pipes of some kind rather than recorders as such. These lights are well down the bottom half of the rose and are further apart than the two referred to above.

Laurent de la Hyre (also spelled la Hire)

• Music (1649), 105.7 × 144.1 cm, oil on canvas, Laurent de la Hyre (1606-1656). New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, Inv. 50.189. Ref. Pincherlé (1959: 86 - b&w); Mirimonde (1975: fig. 2 – b&w); Dugot (1997: 176, pl. 1 – b&w, 178-179); New York Metropolitan Museum of Art (2007); Constance Old (ex Amanda Pond, pers. comm. 2002-b&w). A personification of Music plays a lute in front of an organ with a score propped up against some books on a table with other instruments including another lute, a violin, a ? shawm with a curved bocal, and two small duct-flutes (flageolets or recorders), one with only four holes showing, the other viewed end-on. A small winged putto on the left plays a viol; one on the right seems to be following the score critically. At her shoulder is a songbird, symbol of natural music, whereas by contrast she may be musica artificialis, modern music theory and practice. This canvas, originally flanked by two music-making putti (Musée Magnin, Dijon), belonged to a series of the seven Liberal Arts commissioned by Gédéon Tallemant (1613-1668) for his house in the Marais quarter of Paris.
• Landscape (ca 1650), oil on canvas, 106.5 × 131.5 cm, Laurent de la Hyre (1606-1656). Lille: Musée des Beaux-Arts, Inv. P 1877. Ref. Postcard, Réunion des musées nationaux, IC-00-7429 (1995 – col.); Joconde Website (1999). In a wooded countryside beside a stream a shepherd plays his pipe, possibly a duct-flute (flageolet or recorder) watched by a friend who leans over the wall to listen. "The figures in this landscape are small and it is difficult to identify the instrument. But, with the incised decoration at the bell end, it could be an alto recorder" (Anthony Rowland-Jones, pers. comm. 1999).
• Adoration of the Shepherds, Laurent de la Hyre (1606-1656). Rouen. Ref. Paris RIdIM (1999); Rowland-Jones (1999d: p. 125, fig. 4 – b&w). Joseph picks up or puts down a turned wind instrument (either the chanter of a bagpipe or alto recorder) given to him to present to the Christ-child as he lies in a manger, his mother playing with him, the shepherds watching on in wonder, and winged putti frolicking above. " . . . this instrument has baroque decoration at the bell-end very like the Hotteterre-style recorders which came into fashion shortly after La Hyre's death" (Rowland-Jones, loc. cit.). Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2000) now considers this to be "clearly a bagpipe and certainly not a recorder."

© Copyright 1996-2007, N.S. Lander
Webmaster: Nicholas S. Lander