Recorder Home Page

Recorder Iconography

Compiled by Nicholas S. Lander

V

Adriaen de Valck (1622 – p. 1676), Netherlandish

• The Transience of All Earthly Things (ca 1660), oil on canvas, 119 × 95 cm, Adriaen de Valck (1622 – p.1676). Hamburg: Kunsthalle. Ref. Bridgeman Art Library (2003: Image HKH 152627 – col.); art.com, Giclee print, item #: 12260544AA (2006 – col.) A vanitas in which sculpted busts and head, a vase of wilting flowers, a self portrait of the painter, a sketch book a globe, a flute, and a recorder with a metal-sheathed beak lie on a table. Only the head of the recorder is visible.
• The Lesson, engraving by Wallerant Vaillant (1623-1677), after Adriaen de Valck (1622 – p.1676). Location unknown. A teacher holds an open book of music for a young woman seated before him who is about to play from it on her hand-fluyt. The recorder is perfectly depicted and she holds it left hand uppermost. From the look on her face she seems to be disagreeing with her teacher, the way students will. A young man beside her looks on sympathetically.

Gillis [or Aegidius] I van Valckenborch [Falckenburg, Valckenburg, Valkenburg or Walckenburg]

• Musical Scene, Gillis van Valckenborch (ca 1570-1622). Ref. Haas (1931: 3). Female musicians sing and play spinet and lute, accompanied by a young man on a flute. Another young man holds a flare. At the left instruments and music lie tumbled on the ground, including a trumpet, lute, shawm, fiddle, and an alto-sized cylindrical recorder with a long beak. In the background others play viol and ?bagpipes.

Valentin [Le Valentin] – see Valentin de Boulogne

Moïse Valentin – see Jean de Boullogne & Moïse Valentin

Pere Vall [Master of the Cardona Pentecost]

• Altarpiece of the Nativity: St Peter and Musicians at the Gates of Heaven (ca 1405), Pere Vall. Cardona, Spain: Iglesia de San Miguel. Ref. Guidol (?date: 476), Rowland-Jones (1997: 12, fig. 10-b&w; pers. comm., 2005; 2006a: 20-22 & fig. 21; 2006b: fig. 7 – b&w); Website: gallica (2012-b&w). Surrounding the central panel are seven small panels. The panel at the top left,depicts St Peter, holding his key, greeting arrivals at the gates of heaven who include a king and a bishop. Well within the walls of heaven, Christ, surrounded by four red angels with curiously folded wings, blesses the faithful who have already gained entry. A trio of angel musicians provide entertainment, playing lute, vielle, and a recorder. The latter is cylindrical with double holes for the little finger of the lowermost (right) hand.
• St Anne, the Virgin and Child (ca 1410), in the style of Pere Vall (15th century). Budapest: Private Collection. Ref. Post (?date, 2: 286-8, fig. 176). Six angel musicians play portative organ, bagpipe, lute, vielle, harp and ? recorder. Post (loc. cit.) notes that this painting is similar to Pere Vall's Cardona altarpiece group.

Anne Vallayer-Coster

• Musical Instruments (1770), oil on canvas, 88 × 116 cm, Anne Vallayer-Coster (1744-1818). Paris: Musée de Louvre, Inv. 8260. Ref. Joconde (2003 – col); Bridgeman Art Library (2003: Image PWI 89762 – col.) A horn, lute, music stand with a candle, violin, musette, oboe, flute, and a score lie jumbled on a table. The Joconde image lacks sufficient detail to confirm the presence of a recorder. However, the Bridgeman image shows the "recorder" to be a flute.

Francesco Vanni

• Adoration of the Shepherds (1600), oil on canvas, 312 × 192 cm, Francesco Vanni (1563-1610). Salzburg: Cathedral Museum. Ref. Weltkunst 1 (? date: 1902, fig.); RIdIM (Paris, 2000). The Holy Family are surrounded by visitors including shepherds, one of whom plays a bagpipe. Above, a glory of angels include one playing an organetto, a second a lute and a third a cylindrical pipe (possibly a recorder since all fingers of the lowermost hand seem to be covering their holes, but a flute remains a possibility).
• Moses (series): Worship of the Golden Calf (1590), cartoon, Francesco Vanni (1563-1610). Ref. Bartsch (1854-1870, 12 Appendix of Cartoons: 22/4 b1). A man has his hand on a wind instrument on the ground. It is of alto size with six finger-holes showing in line, though the upper half is covered. There is also a lute in the foreground beneath. Notes by Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2000).

Turino Vanni – see Master of Trapani

Pietro di Cristoforo Vanucci = Perugino

Giorgio Vasari

• Costume design for The Masque of the Gods (1565), Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574). Florence: Uffizi, Print Collection, 2724-F. Ref. Sommer-Mathis (1996: 91, fig. 16). One of the Muses (Cleo) stands in an elaborate costume and headress holding three duct-flutes, a narrow cylindrical one in her right hand and two crossed flared-bell recorders in her left.
• Costume design for The Masque of the Gods (1565), Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574 ). Florence: Uffizi, Print Collection, 2726-F. Ref. Sommer-Mathis (1996: 91, fig. 18). One of the Muses stands in an elaborate costume and headress holding a single narrow cylindrical duct-flute downwards in her right hand.

Jan Vassens [Joannes Vasoens] (17th century), Netherlands

• [Musical Ensembles] (1619), ceiling painting, Jan Vassens (17th century). Maastricht: Dominicanenkerk (deconsecrated) / Boekhandel Dominicanenkerk: nave ceiling. Detail. Ref. Arnold den Teuling (pers. comm., 2007). The church building was constructed between 1267 and 1280 and was consecrated in 1294. It was extended in 1309 but, since the revolution of 1794, it has been in use mostly as the city archives or other purposes (until recently for bicycle parking). It was deconsecrated in 1802. Although there was further restoration in the 19th century, this seems to have been restricted to fixing peeling paintwork. It has recently been refurbished as a large book shop and restaurant. In the middle of the nave a high structure has been erected with stairs, book shelves and an elevator, so it is possible to climb up and approach the vaults and especially its paintings which, until the recent refurbishment, were hidden under a layer of whitewash. Two bays in the middle of the nave (on the transition between the oldest and slightly more recent part of the building) depict four ensembles of male and female musicians (who lack wings). Three are alta ensembles: (a) 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, a pair of kettle-drum with large thick beaters, and one unidentified); (b) trombone, 2 cornettos, trumpet, dulcian; (c) trombone and consort of 4 slender pipes with flared bells (probably shawms). One is a bassa ensemble: (d) viol, harp, and 3 cylindrical recorders: an alto and two tenors.

Theo van de Vathorst

• Van Eyck Medal, 60 cm diameter, Theo van de Vathorst (1934-). Utrecht. Ref. Wind, Jacob van Eyck Quarterly 4 (2007). Medal commemorating the life of Jacob van Eyck, blind recorder player, carilionist and designer of bells. The obverse depicts the blind master in a chair. It is a detail from the well-known nineteenth-century lithograph found in the Lauwerbladen uit Nederlands gloriekrans (1875-1879) by W.J. Hofdijk, a Romantic impression of Van Eyck testing the bells cast and demonstrated by the Hemony brothers (see illustration). Van de Vathorst made this side of the medal slightly concave, as though Van Eyck is actually sitting within a bell. The reverse shows the text '2007 hommage Jacob van Eyck †1657' and depicts Van Eyck playing the recorder for burghers out for an evening stroll in the Janskerhof. The medal thus brings together Van Eyck's activities. Notes from Wind (loc. cit.)

Gaspare Vazzano [or Bazzano]

• Mary with Angels, oil on canvas, Gaspare Vazzano (ca 1560 – ca 1620). Collesano (near Cefalù), Sicily: La Chiesa Madre cittadina e' Santa Maria la Nova, north aisle. Ref. Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2000). One of the many angels plays a tenor-sized pipe, too darkly painted for details to show. The right hand is uppermost with the first finger lifted. The little-finger of the lower (left) hand is lifted as if about to be used. The instrument is slender and cylindrical with a very slight flare at the bottom of the lower portion below the players left hand. All other instruments are soft – a large viola, two large-bellied lutes, a cello, and a portative organ. The pipe could possibly be intended to represent a recorder. Notes by Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2000).

Cesare Vecellio

• Madonna with Child, Saint Giovanni Battista and Saint Girolamo (1581), oil on panel, Cesare Vecellio (ca 1521-1601). Càdola (ponte nelle Alpi): Chiesa di Santa Maria del Rosario. Ref. Conte (1998: 304-305); Paolo Biordi (pers. comm., 2000). The Madonna and Child sit enthroned at the top of a flight of steps; beside them angels hover; below them, on either side stand the two Saints, one gesturing upwards with his outstretched arm, the other reading the scriptures. On the lower steps sit two winged putti, one playing a tambourine (with jingles), the other a very slender cylindrical pipe which he holds one-handed.

Pietro della Vechia [Pietro Muttoni; Vecchia Francesco Vellani]

• The Concert, oil on canvas, 49 × 65 cm, Pietro della Vechia (1602/3-1678). Location unknown: sold by Kunsthandlung L.T. Neumann, on behalf of August Eymer, Vienna. Ref. Sale catalogue: Alte und moderne Kunst, (1962); Paris RIdIM (2000). Musicians play harpsichord, theorbo and a small flared-bell pipe (possibly a recorder), surrounded by ladies (seated) and gentlemen (standing).
• The Concert, oil on canvas, 12 × 33 cm, Pietro della Vechia (1602/3-1678). Venezia: Museo Quirini Stampalia, Inv. No. 303/96-99. Ref. Quirini Stampalia Web Gallery (2001). In a clearing in the forest, a woman with her blouse in disarray plays a lute, whilst a man in a feathered hat plays a tenor-sized duct-flute (possibly a recorder), left hand uppermost, the window/labium evident. The second of four works entitled Quattro Motivi, painted on one of a pair of cassoni. In the first scene the lovers stroll arm in arm beside a lake; in the third they lie together; in the fourth they take their leave. Cassoni were traditionally commissioned by the bridegroom or his kinsmen on the occasion of his wedding, though intended to hold the bride's trousseau. Presumably he chose what was painted under the lids.
• A Musical Party, oil on canvas, Pietro della Vechia (1602/3-1678). Ref. Gabrius Data Bank (2002-col.) A man in a jerkin with slashed sleeves, half-turned towards us, plays a lute; a woman sings from a score held in her hand; a small child plays a narrow cylindrical pipe. The window/labium of the pipe can just be glimpsed, and the little player's hands are beautifully positioned for recorder playing: the first two fingers of his top (right) hand and all fingers of his bottom hand covering their holes, the little finger outstretched.

Luis Gonzales Velazquez

• Mercury and Argus, painting, Luis Gonzales Velazquez (1715-1764). Madrid: Museo de la Real Academia de bellas Artes San Ferrnando. Ref. Website: gallica (2012-b&w). Leaning against a tree, Mercury plays a clearly depicted soprano baroque recorder with one hand and reaches for his sword with the other as Argus drowses before him. Io (as a heiffer) looks on.

Esaias van der Velde

• Musical Party (1629), black chalk and brown wash, Esaias van der Velde (1587-1630). ? Location. Ref. Anthony Rowland-Jones, pers. comm. (2001). An all-male group, some standing and listening, with musicians sitting around a table. They include viol, viola and singers. In the foreground a lute rests against a stool with a cushion on it. On the table, between music books, is a 'wave-profile' hand fluyt of soprano/alto size. The beak and window/labium are very clearly depicted, but the finger-holes only faintly shown. Probably five are visible, plus paired holes for the little finger of the lowermost hand.
• Music-Makers in a Garden (1622), engraving by Aegidius van Scheyndel (1622 – a.1654) after Esaias van der Velde (1587-1630). Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum. Ref. Hellerstedt (1986: 64, no. 25); Jongh & Luijten (1997: 183, no. 34); Rasmussen (2004, Lute). A lutenist accompanies a singer and a woman playing a long slender pipe, probably a tenor recorder.

Francesco Vellani (1688-1766), Italian

• Marriage of the Virgin, Francesco Vellani (1688-1766). Modena: Galleria Estense, Inv. 8029. Ref. Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2002). Angels at the top of the painting play viola, bass, harp and lute; and one (at the top left) holds a possible recorder in his left hand. The recorder is of alto/tenor size, cylindrical, with a slight bell flare, but no further detail is visible.

Bonifazio Veneziano – See Bonifazio de'Pitati

Lorenzo Veneziano

• Coronation of the Virgin (1368), tempera on wood, Lorenzo Veneziano (op. 1356-1372). Detail. Tours: Museé des Beaux-Arts. Ref. Postcard: P. Boyer, Montlouis; Painted for San Giacomo Maggiore, Bologna. Restored in 1996. Above the central scene, angel musicians play two psalteries, organetto, three shawms (with pirouette and played with puffed cheeks), fiddle, two mandolas, and a cylindrical pipe which lacks a pirouette and probably represents a duct-flute (flageolet or recorder). Notes by Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2000).
• Marriage of St Catherine, ?tempera on wood, Lorenzo Veneziano (op. 1356-1372). Venice: Gallerie dell'Accademia. Ref. Website: Early Music Gallery (2005). St Catherine of Alexandria was born to a noble family of Alexandria; she refused to marry the Emperor Maxetius himself because of her previous "mystic marriage" to Christ. The emperor ordered 50 Alexandrian philosophers to prove to her the absurdity of her faith, but she effectively regarded all their arguments. The emperor, enraged by this rebuff, ordered the philosophers to be burnt alive and Catherine to be broken on a spiked wheel. The wheel miraculously fell to pieces, and finally Catherine was beheaded.
  
  The legend relates that in her vision she underwent a mystic marriage with Christ, who put a gold ring on her finger. Another version has it that when Catherine was praying to a small icon of Virgin with Child, he turned his head and placed a ring on her finger.
  
  Catherine of Alexandria is patron saint of young girls, students, clergy, wheelwrights and millers. In fine art she is often represented with a wheel, or a part of a broken wheel; in the episode of her "wedding" angels usually surround her.
  
  In this painting the infant Christ, seated on his mother's lap, is seen putting the ring on Catherine's finger. Above, are musical angels who play mandola, psalteries, lutes, a small flared pipe (probably a duct-flute) and organetto; and one sings.

Adriaen Pietersz. van de Venne

• Beggars playing Pipes & Hurdy-gurdy (The Beautiful and the Ugly), oil on panel. Adriaen Pietersz. van de Venne (1589-1662). New York: Private Collection. Ref. Website: CGFA – a Virtual Art Museum (2010); Recorder Magazine 20(2): cover – col. (2000). One of the beggars plays a cylindrical recorder. His companion, an old crone, plays a hurdy-gurdy. A splendidly happy painting in van de Venne's later 'monochrome' style!
• Celebration in Honour of the Truce between the Spanish and the United Provinces of the Netherlands, Adriaen Pietersz. van de Venne (1589-1662). Paris: Musé de Louvre. Ref. Paris RIdIM (1999 – detail); Rasmussen (1999-2004, Lute). Detail. Musicians play lute, violin, harpsichord, cello, harp, orpharion, ? curtal, xylophone and a tenor recorder of stout cylindrical construction, though the foot is hidden. There are two large frame drums among the military emblems.
• The Parable of the Prodigal Son (1617), oil on coper, 12.6 × 17.8 cm, Adriaen Pietersz. van de Venne (1589-1662). Kassel: Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Inv. GK 221. Ref. Bol (1989: 26); Rasmussen (1999-2004, Lute); Munich RIdIM (2009, Kksg - 74). Against the backdrop of a landscape with a castle is a table covered with a banquet to entertain ca 10 people who are entertained by dancers and musicians playing violin, cello, ?opharion, lute and ?recorder. In the mid-ground are a rider and horse, peasants and distinguished people playing social games. Also in the background is a reference to the story of the prodigal son showing a man being driven from the palace garden. Rasmussen (loc. cit.) remarks that the musicians are closely related to those in Venne's Truce of 1609 (Louvre, Paris). Not seen.
• Barber showing a Jester how he has been Shaved, engraving by Adriaen Matham, after a painting by Adriaen Pietersz. van der Venne (1589-1662). Mansell Collection. Ref. Ward (1983: 40: pl. X – b&w). On the wall behind the barber's chair are his tools of trade, a cittern and a cylindrical recorder with a flared bell.
• From Johan de Brune's Emblemata of Zinnewerck published by Jan Evertsen Kloppenburch, Amsterdam (1624): Street Serenade, engraving by Adriaen Pietersz. van der Venne (1589-1662). Ref. Bol (1989: 119); Rasmussen (2004, Lute). "The serenaders play bass viol, one or more violins, lute and recorder" (Rasmussen, loc. cit.) Not seen.

Marco Ventura

• Joy (2007), Christmas Stamp, gravure print, 20 × 24 mm, Marco Ventura (op. 2007). Ref. Web-site: Norvic Philatelics (2007 - col.); Postcard, Royal Mail Group (2007 - col.) Formatting and typography by Rose Design; printed by De la Rue Security Print. The small stamps are definitive size - 20 x 24mm - and the Large Letter stamps 30 x 24mm. The stamps are die-cut on the self-adhesive sheets, perforated conventionally all round. The stamps sold at PO counters and supplied to dealers have rouletted backing paper for easy separation, but the stamps in presentation packs have guillotined 'imperf' backing paper. They are available as 'large' stamps and as part of a 115 × 102 mm Miniature Sheet which is conventionally gummed and contains the six stamps, arranged as a block of 4 and a pair, within a border also illustrated by Marco Ventura. Part of a series of three stamps depicting musical angels playing trumpet (Peace), lute (Goodwill), tambourine (Glory), and recorder (Joy). The recorder is stylised and the fingering with both hands at the same level rather fanciful. These stamps appear in a number of other philatelic products.

François-Xavier-Henri Verbeeck

• Elegant Company Playing Music in an Interior, oil on panel, 26 × 33 cm, François-Xavier-Henri Verbeeck (1686-1755). Paris: Galerie Virginie Pitchal. Ref. Gallery Pitchal, Fêtes et Festins: Tableaux de Maîtres Allemands, Flamands, Français, Hollandais et Italiens des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles (2001). A group of men and women sit and stand around a table singing and playing lute, tambourine and fiddle. Some are elegantly dressed, but others seem more rustically dressed, as if the servants have been brought in to make up the numbers. Opposite them a man seated plays an ambiguous pipe with a widely flared bell, a shepherd musician like those depicted by David Teniers (father and son).

François Verdier [sometimes called van Hamken]

• Mercury and Argus, oil, 68 × 100 cm, François Verdier(1651-1730). Paris: Musée de Louvre, Inv. 8282. Ref. Paris RIdIM (1999); Rowland-Jones (2001a: fig. 12). Argus has fallen asleep leaning against his arm, his crook held loosely in the other hand which also holds Io's halter. Mercury (Hermes) peers at Argus, holding a turned three-piece baroque alto recorder with ivory beak and mounts in his right hand and reaching behind him for his sword with his left. A goat rears up in alarm behind Mercury. In the distance is a church and behind that a castle.
• Mercury and Argus, oil on canvas, 73.3 × 90.5 cm, circle of François Verdier (1651-1730 ). Location unknown: auctioned Sotheby's, London, Sale W03709, Old Master Paintings, 08 July 2003 Lot 426 (unsold). Ref. Catalogue, Sotheby's Sale W03709 (2003: Lot 426 - col.); Gabrius Data Bank (2007 - col.) Derives from a detail of Verdier's painting today at the Château de Versailles (MV 8266). Argus has fallen asleep leaning against his arm, his crook held loosely in the other hand which also holds Io's halter. Mercury (Hermes) peers at Argus, holding a turned three-piece baroque alto recorder in his right hand and reaching behind him for his sword with his left. A goat rears up in alarm behind Mercury. In the distance is a church and behind that a castle.

Adrien Verdoel

• The Five Senses, panel, 75 × 98 cm; Adrien Verdoel (op. 1620-1695). Location unknown: offered for sale by a French dealer. Ref. Paris RIdIM (1999). On a cloth-covered table lie an assortment of objects, including a violin, several books, an open music score, a vase of tulips, a bowl of fruit, a clay smoking pipe, a bag of money, an ink-well and quill, and a small flared-bell recorder which has a bell decorated with turnings.

Johanna Vergouwen (? – 1714), Flemish

• The Twins Hendrick and Everhard Kockman at three-and-a-half years old (1668), oil on canvas, 198 × 146 cm, Johanna Vergouwen (? – 1714). Private collection. Ref. Exhibition: The Golden Age of Children's Portraits, Frans Halsmuseum, Haarlem Museum van de Gouden Eeuw (2000); Eva Legêne ex Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2001). "Two small boys play dressing up, with enormous ostrich feather hats and metal armour breast plates. One rides a hobby horse, the other holds the hilt of a long sword (in its scabbard) in his left hand, and a recorder in his right. This is alto-sized, mainly cylindrical, but with slight wave and bell flare. Two (possibly three) finger-holes can be seen above his gripping hand, and two more in line lower down. The hand certainly covers more than one finger-hole" (Rowland-Jones, loc. cit.)

Placidus Verhelst

• Decorative swag (1767), gilded woodcarving, Placidus Verhelst (1727-1778). Augsburg: Städtische Kunstsammlungen, Schaezlerpalais, Festsaal. Ref. Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm, 2002). The Schaezlerpalais was the magnificent residence of the all-powerful banking family, the Fuggers. This includes a huge rococo ballroom or banqueting hall, the Festsaal, with gilded woodcarvings by Placidus Verhelst, completed in 1767. At the east wall (shorter slide with entry door) above the right-hand of three mirrors is a decorative swag with trumpet and other instruments including the head and part of the body (up to the first finger-hole) of an elegant baroque recorder. The corresponding mirror on the left is decorated with gardening tools (a swag with a watering can in the centre)" (Rowland-Jones, loc. cit.)

Constantin Verhout

• Boy with a Flute, oil on copper, 23 × 26 cm, Constantin Verhout (fl. 1663-1667). Detail. Location unknown. Ref. Web-site: Blockfloeten Museum
(2009). A well-dressed lad stands beside a column, his hat in one hand and a soprano-sized duct-flute (probably a recorder) in the other. The recorder has a metal-sleeved beak and a foot-ring; the window/labium is clearly depicted.

Jan [Johnnes] Verkolye [Verkolje] the Elder

• The Lovers Promenade, on metal, 24 × 18 cm, Jan Verkolye the Elder (1650-1695). Location unknown: sold by Palais Galleria, Paris, 31 Mai 1972. Ref. Paris RIdIM (1999). A young man doffs his hat and importunes his female companion. In the background a fellow in a feathered hat plays a slightly flared alto recorder.
• Interior Scene with a Couple Seated at a Table, painting, Jan Verkolye the Elder (1650-1695). Location unkown: auctioned 10/07/2003 (unsold). Ref. Gabrius Data Bank (2007 - col.) He tunes a violin and she holds a music score in her right hand and a very slender pencil-like object in her left which reaches across another score on the table. Gabrius (loc. cit.) suggest this is a recorder, unconvincingly.

Barend Vermeer – see Barend van der Meer

Jan Vermeer van Delft

• Girl with a Flute (ca 1666), oil on board, 20.2 × 18.0 cm, Jan Vermeer van Delft (1632-1675). Washington: National Gallery of Art. Ref. Brion (1963: 57 – col., 58); Tibia 1 (1991); Website: gallica (2012-b&w). A tronie in which a girl in a conical Chinese hat and a dress with fur cuffs and lining, holds a one-piece, renaissance-style recorder only the head and upper body of which are visible. In the 1696 auction of paintings owned by Jacob Dissius, the son-in-law of Vermeer's principal patron Pieter van Ruijven, in which 21 works by Vermeer were sold, two of the paintings were described as tronies. Some scholars believe that the pendants mentioned in the Dissius auction were likely to have been the Girl with a Flute and Girl with a Red Hat, which are approximately the same size. Other than their dimensions the pictures have many points in common which might indicate that they were conceived as a pendant pair. The two young sitters have a strong resemblance to each other; they both wear exotic hats and the same drop pearls; and both are set against a tapestry in a chair with lion finials. Light enters from the left side of the picture caressing the left cheek, nose and chin of both figures. There are also technical affinities: both paintings are on panel, and green earth is used in the shadowed portions of the face. However, Girl with a Flute is not unanimously accepted as authentic, although modern consensus seems to be polarized around the idea that it was begun by Vermeer and finished by a later hand. Thus the recorder may not be original.

Andries Vermeulen

• Untitled, Andries Vermeulen (1763-1814). Dordrecht: Museum (City Art Gallery). Ref. Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2001). One of a number of wall-panel paintings for a house in Dordrecht. In the centre of a large pastoral painting a shepherd plays a flared-bell pipe (possibly a duct-flute) with the lowermost finger-hole offset, but lower than the right hand. However, the mouthpiece end is unclear.

Cornelis Vermeulen

• Frontispiece: Piéces de clavecin composées par J. Henry d'Anglebert …- Paris, l'auteur (s.d.) Gravure d'après P. Mignard (1689), engraving, Cornelis Vermeulen (1732-1813). Paris: Private Collection; Bibliothèque Nationale, Department de la Musique. Ref. van Dijck & Koopman 91987: n. 122); Music.Images.Instruments 2: 98 (?date); Paris RIdIM (1999); Anderson (1994: 72); Paolo Biordi (pers. comm., 2000); Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2007). A personification of Music sits atop a sphere playing her lyre with an enormous piece of music spread across her lap. A dove flies above. Beneath her, winged putti sing and play organ, transverse flute, and violin. Other instruments stand around including violin, viol, harpsichord and a turned three-piece baroque recorder which lies beside an open book of music. In the top right hand corner a trophy of instruments includes horn, syrinx, oboe and straight trumpet.

Jan Vermeulen

• Still-life, panel 79.5 × 64.5 cm, Jan Vermeulen (fl. 1638-1674). Amsterdam: currently offered for sale by Salomon Lilian, Amsterdam (2009); formerly offered for sale by Christies, London (1994), by Colnaghi, London (1995, 1996, 1998 & 1999). Ref. Christies (London), Catalogue (1994); Paris RIdIM (1999); Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (2001); Gabrius Data Bank (2001 – col.); Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2001); CD Cover, Der Fluyten Lust Hof Brilliant Classics 93391 (2007). A flute and a number of recorders lie tumbled on a table with books, a globe, a viol (or violin – only the neck is visible) music and the upper part of a flared-bell soprano recorder with a brass sheath reinforcing the mouthpiece. The foot of a larger (? alto) recorder and the body and foot of what might be a bass recorder are also depicted. Griffioen (1988: 120) notes the existence of a total of nine paintings by six artists showing recorders with metal-sheathed beaks, including still-lifes by Collier, van Steenwyck, and a family portrait by van Vliet. Note that some 17 such works by Vermeulen alone are catalogued here, as well as examples by other painters such as Vinne (in four works). Three surviving 17th-century tenor recorders have beaks with metal sheaths, namely those in the collection of in the Accademia Filarmonica in Bologna (Puglisi 1981: 32-43).
• Still-life, 79.5 × 64.5 cm, Jan Vermeulen (fl. 1638-1674). Vienna: Galerie Sanct Lucas. Ref. Galerie Sanct Lucas, Summer Exhibition Catalogue 11 (1972, col.); Rasmussen & Huene (1982: 34, fig. 10, b&w); Griffioen (1988: 440-441). Books, a globe, notepaper and a number of musical instruments lie tumbled on a table, including a violin, lute, a shawm (bell only visible), the body of a flute (or possibly a recorder), and the head-joint of a flared-bell soprano recorder with a brass sheath reinforcing the mouthpiece.
• Still-life, oil on panel, 40.0 × 50.5 cm, Jan Vermeulen (fl. 1638-1674). Köln: Kunsthaus Lempertz, Auction 977, Alte Kunst, 14 May 2011, Lot 1081. Beneath a drape, books, a globe, notepaper, a portrait of a man in a turban, and a number of musical instruments lie tumbled on a table, including a violin, lute, a shawm (bell only visible), the body of a flute (or possibly a recorder), and the head-joint of a flared-bell, soprano recorder with a brass sheath reinforcing the mouthpiece.
• Still-life with Books and Musical Instruments, 33 × 38 cm, Jan Vermeulen (fl. 1638-1674). Private Collection: offered for sale by Hoogsteder and Hoogsteder, 31 May 1996. Ref. Buijsen & Grijp (1993: pl. 44 – col.); Paris RIdIM (1999). Identical to the above. Books, a globe, notepaper and a number of musical instruments lie tumbled on a table, including a violin, lute, a shawm (bell only visible), the body of a flute (or possibly a recorder), and the head-joint of a flared-bell soprano recorder with a brass sheath reinforcing the mouthpiece.
• Vanitas Still-life, panel, 30 × 38.5 cm, Jan Vermeulen (fl. 1638-1674). The Hague: Mauritshuis, Inv. 662. Ref. Bernt (1969, 2: 1286); Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistoriche Documentatie 7289 (2010-b&w). Includes four wind-instruments: the fontanelle and very marked bell flare of a shawm (top right); a ? flute, half hidden by a globe; the head (only) of a recorder with a ? brass sheath protecting the beak (on table at lower right); and standing (leaning) at the centre right a flute (or possibly another recorder) with a brass sheath or cylindrical lower end and five clear finger-holes. Notes by Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2000).
• Vanitas Still-life, panel, 81.5 × 63.5 cm, Jan Vermeulen (fl. 1638-1674). The Hague: Mauritshuis, Inv. 401. Ref. Bernt (1969, 2: 1286); IJdelheld #34; Griffioen (1988: 440-441); Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistoriche Documentatie 7288 (2010-b&w). Includes four wind-instruments: the fontanelle and very marked bell flare of a shawm (top right); a ? flute, half hidden by a globe; the head (only) of a recorder with a ? brass sheath protecting the beak (on table at lower right); and standing (leaning) at the centre right a flute (or possibly another recorder) with a brass sheath or cylindrical lower end and five clear finger-holes. Notes by Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2000).
• Vanitas with Violin, Shawm, and Lute, 60 × 86 cm, an Vermeulen (fl. 1638-1674). Stockholm: Rapps Kunsthandel (1958). Ref. Bol (1969: 357, fig. 318); Griffioen (1988: 440-441). On a table lie scattered a globe, an hourglass, music, a viola and bow, a shawm (only the foot of which is visible), a lute, a flute, and a soprano recorder. Only the head is visible, the beak sheathed in a ? brass sleeve.
• Vanitas Still-life (1654), oil on panel, 73.3 × 57.8 cm, Jan Vermeulen (fl. 1638-1674). New York: Sotheby's Sale NO8759, Important Old Masters and 19th Century Paintings from the Collection of Jacob Elie Safra, 26 January 2011, Lot 26; formerly in the Ponce Museum of Art, Puerto Rico Inv. 65.0536. Ref. Bernströ & Rapp (1958: 87-90, fig.); Nash Age, pl. 74; Griffioen (1988: 440-441); Ref. Paris RIdIM (1999). The only dated work by the artist. On a stone plinth lies a jumble of objects including a worm-eaten skull with an ivy wreath, a crown, money bags, an hourglass, a book of sheet music marked Bassus, pearls the bell of a shawm, the body of a pipe (with four finger-holes), the bell of a shawm, a necklace, a mitre, and a flared-bell, soprano recorder with a brass sheath around the beak. A maker's mark is partially visible on the recorder, possibly a scroll. A ticket reads VANITAS VANITATUM ET OMNIA VANITAS; another reads MORS OMNIA VINCIT. One of two versions of this painting, the other in the Museo de Arte de Ponce, Puerto Rico.
• Vanitas Still-Life, oil on canvas, Jan Vermeulen (fl. 1638-1674). Ref. Gabrius Data Bank (2001-col.) A still-life with a worm-eaten skull, a crown, an hourglass, a pearl necklace, a book, the bell of a ?shawm, the body of a ?flute, a trumpet, the neck of a violin, and a perfectly depicted flared-bell recorder with a brass sheath covering the beak. Auctioned 6 April 1995, unsold (Gabrius, loc. cit.)
• Still-life with Books, oval, 66 × 48 cm, Jan Vermeulen (fl. 1638-1674). Location unknown, sold by Palais Galliera, 1 rue de Lille, Paris, 7 March 1969; sold by Maitre Bloch, Versailles, 16 June 1978. Ref. Paris RIdIM (1999). Two books lie open on a shelf (one propped up against the wall), together with an hourglass a candlestick and candle, the middle joint of a wind instrument of some kind, and what looks like part of a recorder with two finger-holes visible.
• Still-life, Jan Vermeulen (fl. 1638-1674). Location unknown; sold London: Leger Galeries. Ref. Paris RIdIM (1999). A book lies open on a table on which are scattered papers, a shawm, what looks like the body of a flute, a violin, a lute, and the head of a recorder with a brass sheath covering the beak, as in other works by this painter. Cf. Allegory on the Death of Admiral Tromp by van Steenwyck.
• Books and Musical Instruments, oil on wood, Jan Vermeulen (fl. 1638-1674). Nantes: Musée des Beaux Arts, Inv. No. 558. Ref. Paris RIdIM (1999); Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2006). On a table, a script (text illegible) with seals, papers and books (one standing open and more or less upright) are piled in disarray with what looks like the bodies of two flutes, a lute, and a recorder almost entirely hidden by the other items. The recorder has a metal-sleeved beak.
• Still-life, canvas, 63 × 81 cm, Jan Vermeulen (fl. 1638-1674). Location unknown: sold by Charpentier, Paris 5-6 December 1957. Ref. Paris RIdIM (1999). On a table two books lie open (one standing more or less upright) with musical instruments, including a shawm, a lute, a violin and a recorder only the head of which is visible) with a brass sheath covering the beak, as in other works by this painter. Cf. Allegory on the Death of Admiral Tromp by van Steenwyck.
• Vanitas Still-life with Musical Instruments, oil, Jan Vermeulen (fl. 1638-1674). Linköping: Länsmuseet. Ref. RIdIM Stockholm (2000); Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2000). On a table are scatered a globe, books, a flute (with a brass sheath), a lute, a cello, a shawm and a recorder only the head of which is visible with a brass sheath covering the beak, as in other works by this painter.
• Still-life with Musical Instruments, oil on wood, 85 × 78 cm, Jan Vermeulen (fl. 1638-1674). Copenhagen: Statens Museum for Kunst, Cat. 755. Ref. Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (2001); Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2001); Website: gallica (2012-b&w). On a table are scattered a globe, papers, books, notes, an ink-well and quill, an hourglass, a money pouch, a violin (only the scroll is visible), a flute (partially visible) and a renaissance-style soprano recorder with a brass sheath covering the beak, as in other works by this painter.
• Trompe l'Oeil of a Vanitas Arranged Behind a Closed Window, oil on canvas, Jan Vermeulen (fl. 1638-1674). Ref. Gabrius Data Bank (2001-col.) Behind a panelled window lie jumbled music, books, a jar, a shawm, papers, and a cylindrical recorder with a brass sheath, the foot not visible. Auctioned 6 May 1997, sold (Gabrius, loc. cit.)
• Trompe l'oeil van voorwerpen achter een beglaasde kastdeur, Anonymous, after Jan Vermeulen (fl. 1638-1674). London: Johnny van Haeften (dealer). Ref. Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie 32432 (2001); Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2001). A copy from an original by Vermeulen (1651-1655). Includes what appears to be the same brass-sheathed recorder found in other works by Vermeulen.
• Vanitas Still-Life, oil on canvas, Jan Vermeulen (fl. 1638-1674). Ref. Gabrius Data Bank (2001-col.) A still-life with a skull with ivy wreath, a crown, money bags, an hourglass, a pearl necklace, a book, the bell of a ?shawm, the body of a ?flute, a trumpet, the neck of a violin, and a perfectly depicted flared-bell recorder with a brass sheath covering the beak. Auctioned May 1994, sold (Gabrius, loc. cit.)
• Vanitas Still-Life, oil on canvas, Jan Vermeulen (fl. 1638-1674). Ref. Gabrius Data Bank (2001-col.) On a table covered with a blue cloth, lie jumbled a globe, an hourglass, books, a portrait of King Charles I, music, a lute, a shawm (only the foot visible), the body of a ?flute, the neck of a violin, and the head and upper body of a recorder with a brass sheath covering the beak. Auctioned 28 May 1992, unsold, and 10 March 1993, unsold (Gabrius, loc. cit.) Possibly a copy of a painting of identical composition in the Mauritshuis, The Hague.
• Vanitas Still-Life, oil on canvas, 79 × 98 cm, Jan Vermeulen (fl. 1638-1674). Location unknown: offered for sale by Sotheby's (London), 4 July 1990, Lot 177 (unsold). Ref. Sale Catalogue: Sotheby's (4 July 1990: 226 – col.); Gabrius Data Bank (2001-col.); Constance Scholten (pers. comm., 2005). On a pedestal lie a watch, a ?kit, a skull, a mask, a book, a document with a seal, and a candlestick. Beside, on a table covered in green cloth, are a theorbo, a violin and, sticking out from underneath the theorbo, a cylindrical recorder the beak, window/labium, upper body and two finger-holes of which are visible. In the background is a globe.
• Vanitas, oil on canvas, 84.5 × 74 cm, Jan Vermeulen (fl. 1638-1674). Augsburg: Städtische Kunstsammlungen., Inv. 12601. Ref. Munich RIdIM (1999: Ask 53); Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm, 2002). On a bench lie jumbled a blue cloth, a globe, two much-thumbed books (one open), a flute, a lute, and other objects. The head of an alto/tenor cylindrical recorder projects from beneath the lute and a fold of the blue cloth. The beak of the recorder is brass-sheathed; detals of the windway and block are (unusually) clearly visible.
• Vanitas, oil on panel, 69.8 × 56.4 cm, Jan Vermeulen (fl. 1638-1674). London: Rafael Valls, for sale (2005 – col.) On a plinth lies a jumble of vanitas objects, including a skull, books, bone, crown, watch, purse, hourglass, candlestick, spectacles, violin (scroll only visible), pipe (possibly a recorder, only the foot and lower body visible), music sheet, and an unusual object which may be a recorder. The latter is black and cylindrical with a brass-sheathed beak and ornamental brass rings down the body; the foot is not visible.

Fra Giovanni da Verona

• Intarsia (1503-1505), Fra Giovanni da Verona (1457-1525). Siena: Monastery of Monte Oliveto Maggiore, Choir. Ref. Winternitz (1979: pl. 13c & 48a – b&w); Wise (1988: fig. 65); Hammerstein (? date: fig. 45); Moeck; Paris RIdIM (1999); Web-site: Abbazia di Monteoliveto, Asciano (2001); Hijmans (2005: 222). The open doors of a cupboard reveal music and instruments on shelves, including lute, cittern, and two pipes, one of which is a duct-flute (flageolet or recorder).
• Intarsia (1503-1505), Fra Giovanni da Verona (1457-1525). Siena: Monastery of Monte Oliveto Maggiore, Choir. Ref. Web-site: Abbazia di Monteoliveto, Asciano (2001). The open doors of a cupboard reveal two shawms and two flared-bell recorders (very clearly depicted, one with a fontanelle).
• Intarsia (1514), Fra Giovanni da Verona (1457-1525). Vatican: Stanza di segnatgura. Ref. Hammerstein (1994: fig. 47). One of a number of panels illustrating musical instruments. This one shows a harp and three duct cylindrical duct-flutes, one shows only three finger-holes, one shows at least six, another is unclear.

Bonifazio Veronese – See Bonifazio de'Pitati

Paolo Caliari Veronese

• Music (1556-1557), Paolo Caliari Veronese (1528-1588). Venice: St Mark's, Doges' Palace, ceiling. Ref. Winternitz (1979: pl. 6b); Rowland-Jones (1997e: 89 & 90 – detail, b&w); Winternitz (1979: 54-56 & pl. 6b – b&w); Robertson (1992: 12, pl. 3 – col.); Rowland-Jones (1997e: 90-92). Two women play viol and lute watched by a third. Between them stands a wingless cupid, probably intended to underline the connection of music with love. Behind them, a statue of Pan gazes down from a plinth. Above them, two broken recorders tied together, hang from a willow tree, possibly votive gifts from shepherds. "The smaller [instrument] is of square construction like a wooden organ pipe; the larger round one, in its oblique position, shows the fiple in profile. It does not require a Renaissance eye or imagination, nor a reminder of Giovanni da Udine's innnuendoes in the fruit garlands of the Villa Farnesina or of the general fashion for more less delicate pictorial allusions, to recognize here a discreet supplement to the figure of Pan-Priapus who, transcending his caryatid existence, squints amiably down at the ladies" (Winternitz, loc. cit.)
  
  More to the point, perhaps, "Veronese's ladies have devoted themselves to Musica and have permanently abjured marriage. Their recorders are shattered and sliced, and displayed crossed" (Anthony Rowland-Jones, pers. comm., 2000).
  
  
• The Finding of Moses (1580), canvas, 50 × 43 cm, Paolo Caliari Veronese (1528-1588). Madrid: Museo del Prado, Inv. 502. Ref. Ibañez & Gallego (1972: 117); Tena & Mena (1985: 213, fig. 502 – col.); Robertson (1992: 55, pl. 32 – col.) Image from Carol Gerten-Jackson. A most beautiful painting in which the Queen of Egypt and her attendants unwrap the baby Moses. On the far right a lady in waiting encourages a dwarf (jester) holding a pipe (recorder or shawm) with a gently curved medium flared bell to play some music. No finger-holes are visible; nor is a window/labium. The mouthpiece is squarish, but painted rather vaguely in order not to detract from Pharoah's daughter's superb dress.

  There are several other versions derived from this small painting (Robertson, loc. cit.), including those at Dresden, Dijon, Turin, Liverpool, Lyons, Turin and Washington. In most of the studies and paintings worked up from this model the dwarf does not hold a recorder but is given the job of holding the horses at the left of the picture (Ibañez & Gallego, loc. cit.)

• The Finding of Moses (ca 1581 or later), 122 × 168 cm, Paolo Caliari Veronese (1528-1588). Dijon: Musée des Beaux-Arts. Ref. Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2001 & 2003). The artist was assisted by Benedetto Veronese. Similar to the Prado version but reversed. The dwarf (jester) on the left clutches a stubby alto-sized duct-flute in his right hand. The instrument has what appears to be a black, possibly metal band around the head of the instrument, almost in the window/labium position, although no window/labium is visible. The mouthpiece and the beak are very clear. The body is cylindrical, apart from an abruptly flared bell with a beaded rim. Notes by Rowland-Jones (loc. cit.)
• Moses brought before Pharoah's Daughters (ca 1581 or later), 122 × 168 cm, Paolo Caliari Veronese (1528-1588). Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, A143. Ref. Anthony Harrison et al. (2004 - col.) Similar to the Washington version. The dwarf (jester) on the right, here, clutches a conical alto-sized pipe in his right hand.
• Hermes, Herse and Aglauros (1576-1584), oil on canvas, 232.4 × 173 cm, Paolo Caliari Veronese (1528-1588). Cambridge: Fitzwilliam Museum, Accession No. 143. Ref. Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2008). On the table between the two sisters is a bass viol seeon on the flat, end on; and between it and the table-edging are three tenor pipes, cylindrical and featureless, lying in a jumble. The symbolism matches that of the neighbouring Titian Venus – the pipes representing lust, the bass viol masculinity. Aglauros' was fated because, in preference to her younger sister, she wanted the favours of Mercury.
• Proclamation to the Shepherds. See print by Jacob Matham.
• Concert, painting, possibly by Paolo Caliari Veronese (1528-1588). Location unknown. Ref. Website: gallica (2012-b&w). Two men and two decidedly pregnant ladies are in conversation whilst three female musicians entertain them. One kneels, playing a viola da braccio; one, seated, plays a lute; one standing plays a slender duct-flute (possibly a recorder) left hand uppermost.

Antonio Verrio

• Ceiling painting, Antonio Verrio (1639-1701). Chatsworth House: Grand Staircase, ceiling. Ref. Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2003). Ceres with other gods, including Mercury, and other personages, some with musical instruments. A bearded man in white with a hood could be playing a basset recorder, directly blown into the top end at the side (like some present-day bassets); and a satyr plays a tenor-size instrument from the side of his mouth, but not in cornett-playing position. Detail is not good for either instrument, but the bottom end of the ? basset recorder seems to have a very gentle flare. The lower part of the tenor instrument below the lower (left) hand has some finger-holes just visible, including the lowest hole offset to the left. It is is cylindical but has slight flare at the bell and, it seems, a widening bore.

Paulus van Vianen

• Minerva and the Muses (ca 1605), Paulus van Vianen (ca 1570-1613). Location unknown. Ref. Weber (1975: 930); Munich RIdIM (1999: Weber 930); Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 1999). One of the Muses (? Euterpe, Muse of music and lyric poetry) plays what might be a basset recorder.
• Mercury plays the flute with Minerva, Bachus, Cupid and other Mythological Figures (1604), bronze relief, Paulus van Vianen (ca 1570-1613). Exhibited Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (2006). Ref. Website: Mercury Collection (20077 - col.) Mercury sits on a rock in the forest playing a cylindrical pipe (possibly a recorder), right hand uppermost. Behind him stands Apollo who plays his lyre. Before them sits Pan with his syrinx. In the background one of the ? Muses plays a spinet, another the lute. Other figures lounge about in the foreground. Everyone is stark naked! It is not at clear which of these is Minerva, Bachus or Cupid or if they are even present.

Anthony [Anthoni, Anthonie] Victoryns

• Peasants Music-making in a Barn, oil on panel, Anthony Victoryns (op. ca 1630-1655/6). Location unknown: Auctioned by Christie's, 2 May 1991 (sold), 11 May 1994 (sold). Ref. Gabrius Data Bank (2002 – b&w). Watched by a young man leaning on a stick, an old woman seated on an upturned basket plays a small cylindrical pipe reading from a sheet of music held out to her by an old man who sits opposite. Between them, a pitcher of wine stands on a barrel.

Teodorio Viero (1740-1819) – see Giovanni Battista Piazzetta

Jan-Carel Vierpijl [Vierpeyl] (op.1697-1723)

• The Dance, painting, Jan-Carel Vierpijl (op.1697-1723). Location unknown. Ref. Website: gallica (2012-b&w). In a grand chamber a man in a turban dances to music provided by an ensemble which includes an alto recorder, violin and bassoon. A woman in a chair having her glass filled by a maid has an expression of rapture in her face in response to the music and the dancing. A man in the lower right corner tends wine in a drink cooler. A dog in the opposite corner seems to be dancing with the man. In the background, others seem about to join in the dancing.
• The Concert, painting, Jan-Carel Vierpijl (op.1697-1723). Location unknown. Ref. Website: gallica (2012-b&w). Around a table four elegantly addressed musicians play lute, violin, flute and a clearly depicted baroque alto recorder. Behind them, a servant brings some refreshments.

Tommaso de Vigilia

• Madonna Enthroned with Angels and Saints, Tommaso de Vigilia (fl. 1451-1494). Detail. Palermo: Galleria Regionale della Sicilia, Palazzo Abatellis, Inv. 44. Amongst the angels, several play musical instruments including fiddle and a small duct-flute (probably a recorder). The beak and window/labium of the latter is quite clearly depicted. It is played right hand uppermost. Two fingers of the upper hand cover their holes; a third is visible between the upper and lower hands. Three fingers of the lower hand appear to be covering their holes. Although the bell end is occluded, there appears to be another hole for the little finger. Notes by Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2000).

van Vijse [Vijf, Vyse, Eijsen]

• Vanitas Still-life, oil on panel, 47.5 × 65 cm, van Vijse (17th century). Location unknown: formely Private Collection, Japan; auctioned Sotheby's, London, 22 May 1989; auctioned in Old Master Paintings, Dorotheum, Vienna, 3 October 2001, Lot 152. signed and dated lower right: (P, G or H) van Vijse, Ao (anno) 1662. In the hall of a castle, a man in an enormous hat decorated with flowers sits meditating about the transience of life. On a pillar behind him hangs a an ornate clock. A table beside him is littered with books, a globe, papers, a candlestick, smoking pipes and other vanitas objects. Underneath the table are a skull and crossbones and a book. To the right is a black-curtained alcove in which stands a funeral urn. On the steps and floor beneath the alcove musical instruments lie in a scattered heap, including violins, a harp, and what appears to be a tenor recorder with a metal-sheathed beak and a flared bell. Sotheby's (1989) offered this as a work by Gerrit van Vucht (ca 1610-1697).

Francesco Villamena

• Man and Woman with Blokfluit, engraving by Jan Theodor de Bry (1561-1623) after a design by Francesco Villamena (1556-1624). Den Haag: Gemeentesmuseum, Music Department. Ref. Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2001). An elderly woman, a bunch of keys dangling at her waist, sits blowing her first notes on a long pipe with a more or less sharply flared bell which is held for her by her apparently blind male companion. She fingers the upper two finger-holes with her left hand; the bore opening shows that the flare is wood thickening. A motto beneath reads:

  Vivite coniunctis animis operisque beati.

  "The context and motto strongly suggest a duct-flute (possibly a recorder), given the harmony/love/marriage theme" (Rowland-Jones, loc. cit.)
  
  
• Nicolo detto il cieco da pistoia / Said Nicolo, the blind man from Pistoia, engraving by Wilhelm Traut, after a design by Francesco Villamena (1556-1624). Stuttgart; Den Haag: Gemeentesmuseum, Music Department. Ref. Archiv Moeck; Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2001). An elderly woman, a bunch of keys dangling at her waist, sits blowing her first notes on a long pipe with a more or less sharply flared bell which is held for her by her apparently blind male companion. She fingers the upper two finger-holes with her left hand; two further finger-holes are visible, and the bore opening shows that the flare is wood thickening. A motto beneath reads:

  Inflatanus, pulsandi artem non docta, manuque,
  Et digitis caeci exilit inde melos.
  Non quod anus potest, hoc praestat lumine captus,
  Quod nequeunt seorsum, reddit uterque simul.

Sergio Villarreal

• Title unknown, Sergio Villarreal (contemporary). Location unknown. Ref. flautotraverso.it (2003 – col.) A young boy seen in side-profile plays a cylindrical pipe, probably a recorder judging by the thumb and finger positions.

William Vincent

• Two young Men, mezzotint, 13.9 × 10.5 cm, William Vincent (op. 1680s). The Hague; London: British Museum, Inv. 2010,7081.336. Ref. Archiv Moeck; Website: British Museum (2012-b&w). Reprinted by John Smith (p. 1654-1742). A young lad in coat, wig and hat sits at a table facing left and playing a baroque three-piece recorder. His friend stands on the other side of the table pointing at a little dancing dog (a King Charles Spaniel). The same as the image below, but reversed.
• Two young Men, mezzotint, William Vincent (op. 1680s). Ref. Archiv Moeck. Reprinted by John Smith (p. 1654-1742). A young lad in coat, wig and hat sits at a table playing a baroque three-piece recorder. His friend stands on the other side of the table pointing at a little dancing dog (a King Charles Spaniel). The same as the image above, but reversed.

Leonardo [di ser Piero] da Vinci (1452-1519)

• Notebooks: [Pipe] (1508–), drawing, Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519). Ref. Zammattio (1981); Thieme (1982-1983). As a musician Leonardo was especially interested in the larynx which he considered the essential organ of the voice and of phonation. He was wrong in this since he failed to recognize the vocal chords. His notes (in mirror writing) compared the trachea to an organ pipe: by varying its length and diameter the pitch of the voice was correspondingly altered. But the accompanying diagram appears to represent a cylindrical duct-flute, the window/labium and several finger-holes clearly depicted. Da Vinci's Notebooks, which contain some 13,000 pages of notes and drawings fusing art and natural philosophy, were made and maintained daily throughout Leonardo's life and travels, as he made continual observations of the world around him. The notebooks are held by many major collections, including the British Musuem, British Library, Louvre, etc., etc. One, the so-called Codex Leicester, is owned by Bill Gates.

David Vinckboons [Vinckeboons] (1576 – ca 1633)

• Kermis [Village Festival], engraving by Willem Swanenburgh (1580-1612) after David Vinckboons (1576 – ca 1633). Ref. Luijten Mirror (1997: 104, no. 15); Rasmussen (2002, Horn). "Includes children in the left foreground playing violin, recorder (one-hand pipe) and 1½ circle coiled horn (unusual shape)" (Rasmussen, loc. cit.) Not seen.
  
  This sounds similar to other depictions of village festivals by Vinckboons (eg Dresden: Gemäldegalerie, Szczecin: Muzeum Narodowe, Los Angeles: Getty Museum) depicting peasants making merry, dancing, eating, drinking, urinating and vomiting with wild abandon.
• Den Nieuwen Lust-Hof. Gheplant vol uytghelesene, welgherijmde, eerelijcke, amoreuse ende vrolijkcke ghesanghen …, printed by Hans Mathysz, Amsterdam (1602): Wedding Breakfast, copper engraving, 8 × 16 cm, David Vinckboons (1576 - ca 1633). The Hague: Koninklijke Bibliotheek: 1 B 19. Ref. Website: Bibliopolis (2007). A wedding breakfast with guests playing music; a "merry company", a theme which Vinckboon introduced in the Netherlands and which was to become hugely popular. Song books of this kind and love-emblem books in oblong format, with numerous genre representations and emblems, found their way to a young, well-to-do public. The bride and groom, sitting at one end of the table in a shady arbor, are entertained by their guests who sing and play musical instruments. A woman plays the virginals; two men play lutes; and a second woman holds an alto-sized recorder, the beak and window/labium of which are more or less clearly depicted, the foot hidden beneath the table.

Aernout Vinckenborgh (ca 1590-1620), Flemish

• Coronation of the Virgin (1615-1620), wood, 217 × 160 cm, Aernout Vinckenborgh (ca 1590-1620). Antwerp: Church of St Paul. Angels play fiddle, lute, viol, organ, and cornett; putti sing and play trombone, and a duct-flute (flageolet or recorder). One of 15 paintings depicting the Fifteen Mysteries of the Rosary, by painters of the Antwerp School of Painting, which decorate the north side aisle of the St Paul. All 15 paintings were made between 1615 and 1620 with Rubens as the main driver behind its creation.

Vincent Jansz. van der Vinne

• Musical Gathering, engraving, Vincent Jansz. van der Vinne (1736-1811). Den Haag: Gemeentesmuseum, Music Department. Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2001). "A group around a table consists of a violinist, a piper, and one or two singers with a cleric conducting with both hands, not singing, possibly a teacher instructing the group. On the left, a woman leans over a harpsichord, not being played. The pipe (played left hand lowermost) is in the shade and unclear but definitely suggests a baroque alto recorder with its well-shaped beak and bell. A second similar instrument lies on the table but all except the bell end is obscured by music on a stand. The museum date this engraving no earlier than 1751 and not later than 1811. Clearly 1751 is too early (Vinne was then 15), so this shows recorders used for domestic music-making in Holland well into the second half of the 18th century" (Rowland-Jones, loc. cit.)

Vincent Laurensz. van der Vinne, the elder (1629-1702), Dutch

• Vanitas (1656), oil on canvas, 64 × 82 cm, Vincent Laurenz. van der Vinne (1629-1702). Location unknown: auctioned Christie's, London, Sale 6837, Old Master Pictures, 10 December 2003, Lot 34. Ref. Gabrius Data Bank (2007-col.); Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie 59091 (2010-col.) On a draped table lie scattered a globe, a skull, an hourglass, a shell, papers, books and musical instruments including a lute, a flute, violin, shawm or oboe, and a recorder. Only the head of the latter is visible showing the metal-sheathed beak.
• Still-life with a Glass Sphere, oil on canvas, 64 × 49 cm, Vincent Laurensz. van der Vinne (1629-1702). Moscow: Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. Ref. Jongh (1982: 220, fig. 43c); Kuznetsov, fig. 273; Bernt (1948-1980, 4: pl. 292); Griffioen (1988: 440-441); Bridgeman Art Library (2003: Image GIR 65186 – col.) Scattered on a table lie books, papers, a sketch of a man, and a glass sphere on a stand reflecting the room in front of the painting with the artist at his easel. The head of a ?soprano recorder projects from behind an open book, the beak sheathed with a metal (? brass) sleeve.
• Vanitas, oil on panel, Vincent Laurensz. van der Vinne (1629-1702). Amsterdam: Goudstikker Collection. Ref. Archiv Moeck. A table is covered by a jumble of books, a sword, a candle holder, a globe and several musical instruments including a lute, a flute, and the bell and fontanelle of what could be a tenor recorder or (more likely) a shawm.
• Vanity with a Royal Crown, oil on canvas, 94.5 × 69 cm, Vincent Laurensz. van der Vinne (1629-1702). Paris: Musée de Louvre, Inv. RF 3712. Ref. Fischer (1975: 93); Joconde (2003 – col.) On a cloth-covered table lie all manner of objects including a globe, a shepherd's crook, a skull, papers, music, an illustration, a gourd, a feathered helmet, an hourglass, a violin, and a royal crown through which are threaded a shawm (only the bell of which is visible), and some books. Leaning against the violin is the centre joint of a wind instrument which may be a transverse- or duct- flute (flageolet or recorder).
• Vanitas (1657), Vincent Laurensz. van der Vinne (1628-1702). Private Collection. Ref. Bernt (1969, 2: 1313). Includes three wind-instruments: the fontanelle and bell of a shawm; a ? flute with a sheath protecting the lower end and two holes visible (otherwise hidden); and the head (only) of a ? recorder with a ? brass sheath protecting the beak but, oddly, no window/labium is visible. Notes by Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2000).
• Vanitas, oil on canvas, laid down on board, 51.7 × 43 cm, Vincent Laurensz. van der Vinne (1628-1702). Amsterdam: Sotheby's, Old Master Paintings Sale AM1098, 10 May 2011, Lot 61. The body of a ? flute, a skull, music sheets, a gold crown, a dagger, shells, armour, a candlestick, flowers, a string of pearls, a plumed helmet, books, a violin, and a recorder with a metal-sheathed beak lie scattered on a draped table. The foot of the recorder is hidden under a ticket reading 'memento mori'; under the beak is a portrait of a man, possibly the client. The window/labium of the recorder is barely hinted at.
• Vanitas, oil on panel, 39 × 36 cm, Vincent Laurensz. van der Vinne (1629-1702). London: Christies (2001). Ref. Christies Catalogue (5 April 2001: 61); Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2001); Gabrius Data Bank (2001 – col.) Still-life with a crown, a skull, castanets, carnations in a glass vase, an hourglass, a scroll and an engraved portrait of King Charles I. The head of an alto recorder with a brass-sheathed beak and a long window/labium emerges from beneath the upside-down crown. The latter is surmounted by the skull. Auctioned 25 April 2001, unsold (Gabrius, loc. cit.)
• Vanitas, oil on canvas, Vincent Laurensz. van der Vinne (1629-1702). Ref. Gabrius Data Bank (2001 – col.) Still-life with the artist at his easel reflected in a crystal ball, and with a book, a lute, a flag, a chipped roemer, a document and seal, and an engraved portrait of King Charles I. The head of an alto recorder with a brass-sheathed beak and its characteristic window/labium emerges from beneath a book. Auctioned 24 April 1998, sold (Gabrius, loc. cit.)
• Memento Mori, oil on panel, Vincent Laurensz. van der Vinne (1629-1702). Ref. Gabrius Data Bank (2001 – col.) Still-life with a globe, an hourglass, papers, a book of maps, a sketch of the painter, a shawm and, inclined towards the top right hand corner, is the centre joint of a wind instrument which may be a transverse- or duct- flute (flageolet or recorder). A ticket reads "Memento Mori". Auctioned 8 December 1996, sold (Gabrius, loc. cit.)

Sebastian Virdung

• [Recorders] (ca 1511), Sebastian Virdung (c.1468 - p.1511). From Musica getutscht und Ausgezogen, published simultaneously in both Basel and in Strasbourg. Ref. Virdung (1511: facs. Klaus 1983, transl. Hettrick 1979); Legêne (1995: 112, pl. 5a); Hijmans (2005: 217). Shows a quartet of near-cylindrical (wide-bore) recorders of which there are three sizes. Their thumb-holes are clearly indicated, and fingering charts are provided. These instruments, with their clearly delimited beak and beaded foot-piece, are strongly suggestive of the Dordrecht recorder, the beak and foot of which have turned tenons for just such additions.
• [Recorder Duo] (ca 1511), Sebastian Virdung (16th century). From Musica getutscht und Ausgezogen, published simultaneously in both Basel and in Strasbourg. Ref. Virdung (1511: facs. Klaus 1983, transl. Hettrick 1979); Linde (1962/1074: 29); Thomson (1974: : 72, fig. 7); Hijmans (2005: 217). Two near-cylindrical recorders showing left- and right-handed finger positions.
• 'Rughalm Codex' (Nuremberg, 1524): [Wind Instruments], colored ink drawing by Wolfgang Resch (?), after Virdung. Erlangen: Universitätsbibliothek, 'Rughalm Codex' Ms 1463, Liber quodlibetarius (1524). Ref. Zirnbauer (1966: fig. 16); Website: Ikonographie der Renaissanceflöte (2009 - b&w). Depicts shawms, flutes, recorders, gemshorns, crumhorns, mute cornet, bladder pipe, bagpipe. There is partial compliance with Virdung, but also strong differences.

Aurelio Virgiliano

• Il dolcimelo d'Aurelio Virgiliano dove si contengono variati passaggi, e diminutioni cosi per voci, come per tutte sorte d'instrumenti musicale; con loro accordi, e modi di sonare / [Aurelio Virgiliano's 'Il dolcimelo' in which are found passaggi and diminutions either for voices or for all kinds of musical instruments; with their charts and methods of playing] (ca 1600): recorder fingering chart, manuscript, Aurelio Virgiliano (16-17th century). Ref. For modern editions, see Historical Methods (Tutors) & Treatises. Diagrammatic representation of near-cylindrical flared-bell recorder are used to illustrate fingerings.

Matthia de Visch (fl. 1702-1765)

• Les Beaux-Arts, canvas, 300 × 127 cm, Matthia de Visch (fl. 1702-1765). Bruges: Gruuthusemuseum. Ref. Paris RIdIM (1999). Apollo holding his lyre steps out on a cloud proffering a laurel crown towards a woman singing from an open book. Another woman plays an ambiguous pipe which could be a recorder. Cherubs frolic in the sky above and amongst a litter of stage props (a mask, a crown), a globe, some printed music and manuscripts.

Peter Vischer II (1487-1528), German

• Nymph of the Source (1510-1520), engraving, Peter Vischer II (1487-1528). Berlin: Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Kupferstich Kabinett, KdZ 15311. Ref. Seebass (1999/2000: 31, fig.); Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2002). "By a rocky source, with trees above, a rather chubby nymph sits, barely clothed, pouring with her left arm and hand liquid out of a jug. In her right hand she holds a soprano-size duct-flute with a gentle 'wave' profile. The window/labium is very clear, with one finger-hole above her hand and three below, roughly in line, very like a Dutch hand fluyt. It is compared by Seebass (loc. cit.) with Titian's Concert champêtre; but here the nymph of the springs, not of the pastures, is holding a recorder" (Rowland-Jones, loc. cit.)
• Melopmene, Muse of Tragedy, Playing the Flute, ink on paper, in the style of Peter Vischer II (1487-1528). Paris: Musée du Louvre, Département des Arts Graphiques, Inv. 18676.4, Recto Standing beside a tree on which hangs a tabor, Melpomene plays a slender, curved, slightly flared pipe, probably a cornetto rather than a flute or recorder.

Antonio Maria Visentini [Vicentino]

• Ballo al tamburello (1730-1740), Antonio Maria Visentini (1688-1782). Venice: Private Collection. Ref. Angelo Zaniol (pers. comm., 2004). In a detail of this very large painting, four women dance what appears to be a furlana to the accompaniment of a tambourine and a flared-bell pipe, possibly a recorder since it seems to have a bulge above the foot, and no keywork is evident.

Cornelis Visscher (ca 1619 or ?1629 – 1662), Dutch engraver – see Adriaen Brouwer (1605/6-1638)

Nicolas (Claes) Jansz. Visscher II

• From Roemer Visscher, Sinnepoppen, published by Willem Jansz., Amsterdam (1614, XXI): Niet hoe veel, maer hoe eel [Not how many, but how well], etching, Nicolas Jansz. Visscher II (1586/7-1652). Washington DC.: Library of Congress, Dayton C. Miller Flute Collection, 0484/Z. Ref. Hollstein (1954-, XXXIX: 158, no. 448); Rasmussen (2002, Horn; 2004, Lute); Jan Lancaster ex Robert Bigio (pers. comm., 2007). A page from an emblem book which contains 184 emblems divided into three sections of sixty images, each section being referred to as a 'Schock (set of sixty). "A lute juxtaposed with a pile of musical instruments, including a reverse-curve horn, bagpipe, panpipes, recorder?, shawm?, trumpet and rommel pot" (Rasmussen, loc. cit.) In fact the "shawm" is capped. The "recorder" is cylindrical with six finger-holes inline clearly visible, and there is a shadow which seems more likely to represent the embouchure hole of a flute or fife since no beak is evident. The accompanying text reads:

  Een wel ghestelde Luyt, en een goet meester daer by, is beter van melodie, als hondert instrumenten die van de Musijcke niet en weten: want het ghetal en geldt niet, noch in melodie, noch in kloeckheydt van raedt; want daer worden veeltijdt veel Raedsheeren ghemaect, en onder alle isser een of twee die de sake beleyden of verdedighen; die is dan de Luyt, en alle d'andere de boeren Fluyten.
  
  [It is not the quantity of instruments, but the quality of a single instrument that matters. The lute is an instrument of the court or palace and is therefore a noble instrument in the quality of its sound, especially when played by a master musician. The fine melody of the lute is far more beautiful than the sounds of a hundred instruments, the humble instruments of the villagers, such as the bagpipe, panpipes, etc.]

Alvise [Luigi] Vivarini

• Belluno Altarpiece (ca 1485), Alrise Vivarini (ca 1442-1505). Destroyed (1945): Formerly Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum, Berlin. Ref. Humfrey (1993: 209, pl. 196). "Two boys stand on the base of a predella. One, with his back half towards the viewer, plays a lute. The other, sideways on, plays a soprano/alto recorder. The latter is held left hand lowermost; its window/labium is clearly depicted, the first finger-hole shows, and the others are covered. The instrument is cylindrical in profile, but the bell end is obscured by the pegs of the lute" (Anthony Rowland-Jones, pers. comm. 2000).

Nicolas Vleughels [Wleughels]

• Erato and Euterpe (1710), engraving by B. Jeurat after Nicolas Vleughels (1668 – ca 1737). Paris: Bibliothèque Nationale, Print Collection, Db 18. Ref. Pottier (1992: 44, pl. XXX); Archiv Moeck. Seated on a bank beside a stream, Erato (Muse of lyric, especially erotic and love poetry) holds a lyre in one hand whilst she writes on a slate with the other, assisted by a putto. Euterpe (Muse of music and lyric poetry) lies in the grass beside her holding a duct-flute in each hand.

Nicolas Vleys

• Assumption of the Virgin, canvas, 268 × 210 cm, Nicolas Vleys (fl. 1694 – 1703). Bruges: Klooster Zwart-Zusters Augustinessen. Angels sing and play lute, shawm, trombone, and a duct-flute (flageolet or recorder).

Hendrik (Cornelisz.) van Vliet

• Portrait of the van der Dussen Family (1640), oil on canvas, 159 × 210 cm, Hendrick Cornelisz. van Vliet (ca 1611-1675). Delft: Stedelijk Museum Het Prinsenhof. Ref. Didier Aaron & Co. (1987: advert.) Burlington Magazine, May (1987: xix); Griffioen (1988: 440-441, 1995: 118); Laarmann (1981: 32-36); Griffioen (1991: 387); Tibia 1 (2000: front cover – col., detail); Rowland-Jones (2000: fig. 6-9, b&w); Bouterse (2001: Appendix C.1); Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistoriche Documentatie 133703 (2010-b&w); Arnold den Teuling (pers. comm., 2011). In a well-appointed room, the van der Dussen Family stand for their portrait. On the right are van der Dussen's wife, Wilhelmina van Setten (1605-1683) and three daughters, the smallest with a pet bird on her arm, surrounded by symbols of fruitfulness, including the nuts on the floor. On the left, Michiel van der Dussen (1600-1681) and his two sons pose before a wooden music stand on one side of which lies an open music-book (? hymnal). One of the boys holds a cylindrical recorder in his right hand; his father holds a similar alto instrument in his left hand, pointing towards the open book on the stand (this may represent both left- and right-handed players). Interestingly, papa's recorder, which is entirely cylindrical, has a silver decorated ring at the foot and a silver sleeve covering the beak, similar to the metal sleeves seen on recorders illustrated by other Dutch painters of this period, amongst them Collier, van Steenwyck, Vermuelen and Vinne and to those found on the three tenor recorders in the collection of 17th-century recorders in the Accademia Filarmonica in Bologna (Puglisi 1981: 32-43). Two more recorders lie on top of a tall stool (one with a metal-sleeved beak) and three others lean at different levels against this stool. Curiously, the recorders do not seem to vary greatly in size, although the boy's half-hidden instrument could be of soprano size and the one leaning from the floor to the top of the stool may be a basset in g. Both instruments beneath the stool have flared bells. Possibly the picture shows seven rather similar recorders to emphasise the family's coherence. The music on the stand is Factum est silentium by Hieronymus Praetorius from his Cantiones sacrae de praecipuis festis published in 1599 but reprinted from 1607 up to 1623. The music scattered on the floor (amongst which is Nervi d'Orfeo, a book of madrigals published in Leiden in 1605) is secular music, and the devout father (the Dussens were Roman Catholic) is possibly pointing to the sacred music on the stand as being more appropriate repertoire for his family, and in fact Factum est silentium was in honour of St Michael, pointing to the father's name. But even the pagan Orpheus stands for marital devotion, as well as for divinely inspired music-making.

Arie de Vois

• Portrait of a Man as Bacchus, oil on copper, Arie de Vois (1631-1680). Amsterdam: Salomon Lilian (exhibited pAn Art Fair, December 2003). Ref. Constance Scholten to Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2003). "This Bacchus waves a beautiful recorder" (Scholten, loc. cit.)

Il Volterrano = Baldassare Franceschini

Cornelis de Vos

• Allegory of the Futility of Wealth or Transitoriness (ca 1630-1635), 190 × 194 cm, Cornelis de Vos (1584-1651). Brunswick: Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Inv. No. 109. Ref. Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2001). "Combines the trappings of a vanitas with a portrait of a family, being man, wife and three children. A catalogue form 1776 says that this is Rubens' family, and the woman certainly looks like Hélène Fourment; the children are about the right age for ca 1635; and Rubens was certainly very rich. At the bottom right there is a cluster of musical instruments, including an alto cornett without its mouthpiece, the wide bell-end of a shawm, and between them the middle part of a cylindrical instrument (transverse flute or recorder) showing four finger-holes and possibly part of a fifth. There is also a large lute, and some music" (Rowland-Jones, loc. cit.)

Marten [Martijn, Maarten, Maerten] de Vos the elder

• The History of the First Men (Boni et Mali Scientia): Jubal's Workshop (1583), engraving, 198 × 228 mm and 194 × 248 cm, by Johannes Sadeler I (1550-1600) after Martin de Vos (1532-1603). San Francisco: Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts; Vienna: Albertina, Inv. HB78; Den Haag: Gemeentesmuseum, Music Department; New York: C. & J. Goodfriend, Online Exhibition &ndash The Musical Scene Five Centuries of Prints and Drawings of Musical Subjects, Item 38, 2011. Ref. Early Music 1(3): (1973: 186-187); Mirimonde (1977: 24, pl. 61); Web-site: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (2009); Ferino-Pagden (2001: 190, fig.); Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2001). "Illustrates Genesis 4:21-23, where Jubal, one of the three sons of Lemech, is named as the father of musicians. The learned Latin verses explain that Jubal played musical instruments: lyres, harps and the slender flute (monaulos), while attendant nymphs enjoy merry delights, elegant games and happy dances. The engraving shows Jubal as the proprietor of a busy instrument-making concern. He seems to be adjusting a rather fancifully shaped violin with only three strings and a central sound hole, while his assistants saw wood, bore a tube on a lathe, drill holes in a wind instrument, and so on. This surely one of the earliest depictions of the techniques of instrument making. The shop seems to offer various instruments for sale: transverse flutes, recorders, bagpipes, viols (or violins), rebecs, shawms, and so on …The round dance in the far background seems to be accompanied by a single shawm. The couple dancing in the middle ground is supplied with music by the improbable combination of violin, flute, and bagpipe" (H[oward] M[ayer] B[rown], Early Music, loc. cit). The 'recorder' lying on a table in front of Jubal has a widely flared bell and only four finger-holes. A caption reads:

  Musica tractabat Jubal instrumenta Lyrafqz
  Et cytheras, doctus, tenuemaz inflare monaulon:
  Dum nymphae comites, gaudent celbrare iocofas
  Blanditias, lepidos ludos, hilarefque choreas.

• Terra (1580-1637), engraving by Crispin I de Passe (ca 1565-1637), after Martijn de Vos (1532-1603). Paris: Bibliothéque Nationale, Print Collection; Den Haag: Gemeentesmuseum, Music Department; New York: Public Library, Prints Division, Astor, Lenox & Tilden Foundations. Ref. Hollstein (1949-, xlvi: 185, no. 1353); Beck & Roth (1965: pl. 22); Hirth (1972: no. 1422); Fischer (1972: 39-46, pl.; 1975: 34); Michel Sanvoisin, ed. (1973), Nouveaux Duos pour flûte à bec et guitare, Heugel CPJ 19, Paris (front cover); Jongh (1976: 24); Mirimonde (?date-4: 276, fig. 19; 1977, Astrologie: pl. 107); American Recorder (1980, 1); Early Music (1982,10: 249); Moens & Kockelbergh (1994: 109, no. 61); Paris RIdIM (1999); Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2001); Rasmussen (2002, Lute). Part of a series representing the four elements – earth, air, water and fire. In a garden, an elaborately dressed man plays a lute whilst his female companion sings from a manuscript. Before them is a table on which lie a bowl of fruit and other food, a decorated plate, a lizard, a drinking glass, a book, an open music book (showing the score of Lassus' Susanne un Jour), and musical instruments including a violin, cittern, cornett, cylindrical flute, and a duct-flute (recorder or flageolet). The latter is conical with a prominent bell The beak and window/labium of the later are clearly depicted, however only two finger holes are visible. Roth & Beck (loc. cit.) identify the duct-flute mistakenly with the piffero, a reed instrument. In the background a consort of viols accompany dancers. An explanation of the complex symbolism of this painting may be found in Fischer (1972, loc. cit.)
• Euterpe / Dulciloguis calmos Euterpe flatibus urget, engraving, 16.4 × 9.4 cm, by ? Philips Galle (1600-1676), after Martin de Vos (1532-1603). Antwerp: National Print Collection, cat. F. II/G. 273; San Francisco: Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, 1963.30.12319. Ref. Hollstein (1949-, XLVI: 167, no. 1301); Musiek & Grafiek, Antwerp (1994: 5, fig. 3d); Paris RIdIM (2000); Rasmussen (2002, Bagpipe). The fourth engraving in a series depicting the Muses. Euterpe (Muse of music and lyric poetry) sits playing a straight trumpet held in her right hand. In her left hand she holds a cylindrical recorder with a greatly flared bell; the beak, window/labium and four lowermost holes (in line) are clearly visible. Beneath the recorder stands a case, a set of tubes for five wind instruments. At her feet lie a folded trumpet, a crumhorn without a windcap, a cornett, a set of small bagpipes and a flute. To her right and in the distance four other female figures play bagpipes, flute, straight trumpet and a crumhorn (again without a windcap). Just below the recorder is a case for five flutes.
• From Età dell'uomo, scene allegoriche: Adolescentia amori (1596), engraving by Crispijn I de Passe (1564-1637) after Maarten de Vos (1532-1603). Rome: Biblioteca Casanatense, 20. A. II. 114, fol. [88] c. di tav. Ref. Hollstein (1949-, xlvi: 222, no. 1458); Mirimonde (1977, Alchemie: 146, pl. 83); Hellerstedt (1986: 16, no. 5); Rasmussen (2002, lute). From a Four Ages of Man series. A handsome youth playing a lute is admonished by Venus while Amor takes aim with his bow and arrow. Beside Venus is a viol and beside the youth there are several books and musical instruments: cittern, flute, pommer (?), recorder and cornett. In the background a woman plays a double bass as a couple dances. The window/labium and flared bell of the recorder are clearly depicted.

Simon Vouet

• Apollo and Marsyas, engraved by Dorigny after Simon Vouet. Paris: Bibliothèque Nationale, Print Collection. Ref. Mirimonde (1975: fig. 57). Apollo (holding his lyre under is arm) and his company look on as a satyr puts a cloak (animal skin) around Marsyas' shoulders as the latter points questioningly to his instruments on the ground – a syrinx, a small pipe, and a flared (Ganassi-style) recorder seen end-on.

Sebastian Vrancx

• Flemish Proverbs, canvas, 118 × 246 cm, Sebastian Vrancx (1573-1647). Koninklijke Musea voor Schone Kunsten van België, Cat. 1095, Inv. 3301. Leppert (1977: 167). An allegorical scene depicting a country fair in which street musicians play two horns and a bagpipe, and a shady merchant proffers a basket containing seven duct-flutes (flageolets or recorders).
• Market Day in Vlaamse (1613), oil on panel, 42 × 55 cm, Sebastian Vrancx (1573-1647). Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum. Ref. Ref.Centre for Music Documentation (CMD), Madrid (2001); Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2001); ?Author, Kunstschrift 98(6): 17 (?date). In a busy market a merchant and his wife display their wares on top of a barrel: spectacles, jews harps and small flared-bell duct-flutes (flageolets or recorders) with a variable number of finger-holes. A caption reads:

  A. Hier netten ende trompen ja oock schoon fluitjen,
  heen beter ware men nu hier in landt en vindt.

  B. Wech versiet u Crémere loopt elders stuitjen,
  Daer t'volck noch is hoorende doof en siende blindt.

Hans Vredeman de Vries

• Musical Trophies, engraving, Hans Vredeman de Vries (1527-c.1607). Location unknown. Ref. Website: gallica (2012-b&w). Designs for four trophies of musical instruments, one of which comprises three swags of wind instruments: a swag comprising six flutes and two small duct-flutes (possibly recorders); a swag comprising two cornetti, a lysarden and folded trumpet; a swag comprising six more-or-less cylindrical recorders each with a flared bell. One of the recorders has a key and fontanelle. Other trophies depict: lutes, cittern, guitar, harp, flute; tromba marina, lyre, shawm, flutes, musical bow, viols; bagpipes, recorder, shawms (some straight, others with curved bells), dulcian.

Goossen van Vreeswyk (1626- after 1689)

• Title page: Vervolg van 't cabinet der mineralen, of de goude son der philosophen … [Continuation of the Cabinet of Minerals] (1675), engraving, Goosen van Vreeswyk (1626 – p.1689). An alchemical treatise published by Johannes Jansonius van Waesberge, Amsterdam, with a series of 17 engravings. A shepherd sits beneath a tree playing his recorder, the offset hole for the lowermost finger clearly visible. Before him are a grape vine, and a dead donkey. Behind him, a sheep grazes on a hillside. Alchemical symbols are attached to the Air (Silver), Sun (Gold), Earth (Potash) and to the flute-player himself (Sulphur). Sulphur was associated in the 17th century with the Expansive force in Nature: Dissolution and Evaporation. This image is derived from Jan Gerritsz. Sweelinck's Ex morte levamen, published in Cats' emblem books (1618, 1627).

Willem Vrelant [Guillaume Wyelant, Guillermo Vrelant]

• Book of Hours (ca 1486), illumination, Willem Vrelant (a. 1430-1481). Madrid: Real Monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Library, Lat. Vit-10, Lib. Hor. Zúñiga, f.155v Ref.Centre for Music Documentation (CMD), Madrid (2001); Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2001). "An angel holds a duct-flute of alto/tenor size just away from his lips. His left hand clutches the upper part of the instrument, with the thumb across from the first and second holes. The right hand is on the instrument, but five finger holes are clearly shown, as well as a perfectly shaped window/labium and beak, together with an incised ring a little before the unflared bell end. There is no offset hole, but if the right hand covers, as seems likely, two finger holes, this is a probable recorder" (Rowland-Jones, loc. cit.)
• Book of Hours, Bruges (ca 1466): Annunciation, illumination, Willem Vrelant (a. 1430-1481). Vienna: Die österreichische Nationalbibliothek, MS 1987, fol. 44v. Ref. Zanten (1999: 61, pl. 10); Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2002). "In an organ loft above the main scene, three angels play organ, slide trumpet and a tenor size cylindrical pipe which appears to have a window/labium though other details are even less clear in the photo (Zanten, loc. cit.) The instrument has a fairly brief but marked bell flare with wood thickening. It could be a recorder, the trumpet on the left representing Gabriel. The angel holds the duct-flute with the right hand uppermost with the fingers in playing position, not clutching; the left arm is not visible" (Rowland-Jones, loc. cit.)

Gerrit van Vucht

• Still-life, oil on panel, 22.2 × 25.9 cm, Gerrit van Vucht (ca 1610-1697). Location unknown: auctioned Sotheby's (Amsterdam), AM0885, Old Master Paintings, 13 May 2003, Lot 10 (sold). Ref. Catalogue, Sotheby's Sale AM0885 (2003 - Lot 10). On a draped table lies a jumble of objects, including a jug, books, a box, a folder of papers, a hand-written note, a tobacco pipe, and a hand-fluyt. Only the head and upper body of the recorder are visible. Behind the recorder is something dark and vaguely cylindrical which may be a transverse flute. If so, then this is an early example of them appearing together.

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