The Concert By Theordor Rombouts

My first impression of this piece was that, the name really did not match the actual painting itself. Personally, as a music major I cannot conceive how five musicians in a small room with one window can be considered a concert. Another thing I noticed within the first few seconds of staring at this painting is that the violinist has a sword strapped to his hip.

“The Concert” was painted in Flemish on the year 1620, during the Baroque period. Like I stated earlier, the name does not completely match the art. I have been a musician for the most part of my life, and my personal opinion is that the title aught to be “The Rehearsal”.

The painting is three and a half feet tall by six feet wide. This landscape style portrait fits well with the subject matter portrayed. The way the portrait is set up, the artist makes

Using Oil-on-Canvas with short light strokes, the artist made it to where there are really no hard lines to be found. There are a few strait lines, but most of the picture is curved. The artist blended the lines so well, this piece is one that looked as if to be a picture with an old camera.

When you look at the condition of the musicians in the image, the viewer tends to notice a few things. One, there is no back drop, wall, or wall detail. This style allows the artist to focus on the subject, and not a busy backdrop to distract viewers. Another thing is that the room itself looks warm and/or humid. The reason I came up with this conclusion is the condition of the musicians. With a closer look, all five of them are flush in the face, and the lute player has sweat on his brow.

Another thing I noticed about this painting was that four out of the five musicians have instruments in their hands, which leads the viewer to believe that the woman is in fact a singer, or the instrument is in her left hand behind the guitar player. If you look to the bottom right of the image you will notice a saber strapped to the violinist’s hip. I find this rather odd, due to the fact that, if it’s a concert or a practice is being held, why the need for a weapon?

it look like the musicians left the doors wide open into their music studio for you to see into their world. The picture tends to bring you up close and personal into the moment of this painting, and puts within listening distance to the tunes they play.

The hue and saturation of the piece is dark and quite reddish. The only light coming into the r

Some topics in this essay:
Theodor Rombouts, Using Oil-on-Canvas, Art Gallery, Semmes Gallery, lute player, five musicians, fife player, , reading music, guitar player, subject matter, viewers looks, condition musicians, five senses, subliminal messages,