Recorder Home Page

Recorder Iconography
Compiled by Nicholas S. Lander
Francesco Imperiali [Fernandi, Ferrando]
Italian artist who was patronized by Cardinal Giuseppe Renato Imperiali, whose name he took whilst living in Rome; his works include cabinet pictures of farmyard birds, animals and fish, such as roosters, rabbits and donkeys, and small studies for conversation pieces; born Milan (1679), died Rome (1740).
- Conversation Piece, oil sketch, Francesco Imperiali (1679-1740).
Private collection.
Ref. Arte Lombarda (1953, 3/2: 105); Visual Collection, Fine Arts Library, Harvard University, 372.F391.90[b]; Rasmussen (2002, Keyboard).
"Includes a woman playing a harpsichord, a man playing a cello (?) and another holding a recorder" (Rasmussen, loc. cit.) Not seen.
- Saint Cecilia playing the Organ accompanied by Putti, black chalk drawing, 27.1 × 20 cm, Francesco Imperiali (1679-1740).
Ref. Website: Christies (2008 - col.)
London: Christies, Sale 7605, Old Masters and 19th-century Drawings, 8 July 2008, Lot 48.
Cecilia seated at the organ, gazes heavenward. Beside her a young standing angel plays lute. Another, behind her plays tambourine. Before her a small seated putto plays a recorder with what appears to be a metal-sheathed beak; the foot is hidden. Two junior putti in the background look on.
Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres
French neo-classical draughtsman, painter of historical subjects and portraits, and teacher; worked in Paris, Rome and Florence; a keen amateur musician, he played the violin and gave to the French language a colloquialism, violon d'Ingres, meaning a hobby or avocation; born Montauban (178), died (1867).
- The Flutist, drawing, Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres (1780-1867).
Montauban: Musée Ingres.
A seated youth plays a slender pipe (possibly a duct-flute> – with three hands!
van Intol (late 17th century), Flemish
- Musicans in a Tavern, oil on canvas, 78 × 108
cm, van Intol (late 17th century). Marseille: Musée des
Beaux-Arts, Inv. 94. Ref. Joconde Website (1999). A tavern scene with an
ensemble of musicians playing duct-flute, violin, cello and an
obscure wind instrument. Not seen.
Adriaen Isenbrandt [Isenbrant, Ysenbrant]
Flemish artist active in Bruges about whom little is known; it is thought that he is one and the same as the anonymous Master of the Seven Sorrows of the Virgin and the author of a large body of paintings previously attributed to Gerard David and Jan Mostaert, thus he is sometimes called the Pseudo-Mostaert; his paintings are meticulously executed and include portraits as well as religious subjects; possibly born in Haarlem or even Antwerp (ca 1490), died Bruges (1551).
- Madonna and Child with Cherub Musicians (1540), tempera and oil on panel, 24.1 × 19.1 cm, Adriaen Isenbrandt (op. 1510 –
m. 1551). San Diego: Museum of Art, 1939:018. Ref. Ibañez &
Gallego (1972: 97 -col.); Visual Collection, Fine Arts Library,
Harvard University, 374.1.Is25.34[c]; Rasmussen (1999b). Against a background comprising a town amongst hills, the Virgin sits on an elaborate throne, the Child on her lap. To the right, a cherub runs towards them with a parrot on his finger. Before her on the pedestal sit two cherubs one playing a tiny lute, the other a cylindrical pipe. The pipe is featureless, but the disposition of the little player's fingers suggests a recorder. An image is available on the San Diego Museum of Art web-site.
- Virgin and Child, copy by Adriaen
Isenbrandt (op. 1510 – m. 1551) after Jan Mabuse (ca
1478-ca 1532). Detail. Washington D.C.: National Gallery of Art.
Ref. Burlington Magazine 121 (1979, September supplement,
unnumbered page - col.); Die Weltkunst 51 (1981: 1517);
Rasmussen (1999b). A copy of the centre-panel of Mabuse's
Malvagna Triptych which has a lute player and two singers
at the left and a bladder pipe replacing the recorder at the
right.
Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov
Russian painter who adhered to the waning tradition of neoclassicism but found little sympathy with his contemporaries; lived and worked mostly in Rome, concentrating on religious subjects; has been called the master of one work, taking 20 years to complete his magnum opus The Appearance of Christ before the People (State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow); born St Petersburg (1806), died St Petersburg (1858); son of artist Andrei Ivanov.
- Apollo, Hyacinthus and Cyparissus Singing and Playing Music (1831-1834), oil on canvas, 100 × 139 cm, Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov (1806-1858 ).
Moscow: Tretyakov Gallery.
In mythology Cyparissus and Hyacinthus were favourite companions of Apollo. The latter was so beautiful that Apollo fell in love with him but one day, while they were practicing throwing discus, Apollo’s discus changed its course and hit Hyacinthus on the head, killing him at once. Apollo was in grief. To commemorate his name, he transferred his friend’s blood into a flower. Cyparissus, a beautiful youth was also loved by Apollo. His favorite companion was a sacred stag, which he had tamed. Once Cyparissus inadvertently killed the stag with his javelin. Full of grief he asked the gods for death. The gods turned him into a cypress, the tree of sadness. In this decidedly homo-erotic painting Apollo is depicted as a youth seated on some rocks at the edge of a forest, his left arm around one of his companions who leans against him, his right arm reaching out to touch the thigh of the other boy who kneels playing a flared bell duct-flute, possibly a recorder since the player's thumb is in the pinched position so characteristic of that instrument.
Francisco Hurtado Izquierdo (early 18th century),
Spanish
Architect and artist whose buildings, marble altar-pieces and
paintings are found in Cordoba and Granada. From his name, he was
left-handed.
- Musical Angels, fresco, Francisco Hurtado Izquierdo
(early 18th century). Granada: Monasterio de la Cartuja,
underside of arch before Sacrarium (behind the high altar). Ref.
Charles Rowland-Jones (ex Anthony Rowland-Jones, pers. comm.,
2002). An angel putto plays a small pipe, possibly a recorder.
Elsewhere a putto plays a shawm, his face all tensed, but the
piper has relaxed cheeks. Except for his hands being almost
opposite each other, the playing position is recorder-like, with
wrists low. No details of the finger-holes or window/labium are
visible (the pipe points away from view).

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