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The Musicians
Lucas van Leyden (Netherlandish, about 1494–1533)
1524
Medium/Technique
Engraving
Dimensions
Sheet: 11.6 x 7.5 cm (4 9/16 x 2 15/16 in.)
Credit Line
Harvey D. Parker Collection—Harvey Drury Parker Fund
Accession Number21.11755
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope, Prints and Drawings
ClassificationsPrints
Catalogue Raisonné
Bartsch (intaglio) 155; Hollstein 155, only state ; Filedt Kok (New Hollstein) 155 (a)
State
I/I
DescriptionLucas's representation of an elderly music-making couple playing a lute and a rebec, a three-string fiddle, is believed to a be an allegory of harmonious marriage, as well as a testimony to the consoling pleasures of music in old age.
Signed
Signed and dated in plate, upper center: L [in reverse]; and upper right: 1524
Marks
No watermark; verso, MFA stamp (Lugt 282) with old accession number in graphite: 28422; in graphite: c1786; B. 155.
ProvenancePaul Davidsohn (born 1839 - d. 1927?; Lugt 654), London, Vienna and Berlin; November 22-26, 1920, his sale, C. G. Boerner, CXXX, Leipzig, lot 1095, to P. & D. Colnaghi (dealers, London); January 1, 1921, purchased from Colnaghi by the MFA.
Credited to the Harvey D. Parker Collection from sale of duplicates. (Accession Date: January 1, 1921)
Credited to the Harvey D. Parker Collection from sale of duplicates. (Accession Date: January 1, 1921)