Painting Music in the Sixteenth Century: Essays in Iconography

by H. Colin Slim

Overview

Professor Slim deals here with the several roles that music can play in the artworks of the Renaissance, looking in particular at Italian painting of the 16th century. For understandable reasons, art historians sometimes neglect the role of music and, especially, that of musical notation when studying works of art. These studies not only identify musical compositions, wholly or partially inscribed in paintings - and tapestries, ceramics, prints as well - but also seek reasons why these particular musical compositions were included and analyse their relevance to the scene depicted. Furthermore, as many of these studies show, identifying a musical composition, especially if it has a text, leads to the formation of ideas about iconographical functions and thus augments interpretations of the visual art.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781040245866
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	08/01/2024
Series:	Variorum Collected Studies
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	360

Table of Contents

Contents: Preface; Introduction: Some thoughts on musical inscriptions; ’Some possible likenesses of Francesco Canova da Milano (1497-1543)’; The prodigal son at the whores’ music, art, and drama; A motet for Machiavelli’s mistress and a chanson for a courtesan; Mary Magdalene, musician and dancer; Mary Magdalene, mondaine musicale; Paintings of lady concerts and the transmission of ’Jouissance vous donneray’; Musical inscriptions in paintings by Caravaggio and his followers; Music in and out of Egypt: a little-studied iconographical tradition; Music in majolica; Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo’s Portrait of a man with a recorder; Tintoretto’s Music-making women at Dresden; Arcadelt’s Amor, tu sai in an anonymous allegory; The lutenist’s hand; An iconographical echo of the unwritten tradition in a Verdelot madrigal; Two paintings of ’concert scenes’ from the Veneto and the Morgan Library’s Unique Music Print of 1520; Lassio’s La cortesia Voi, Donne, Predicate: a Villanesca printed, penned, plucked and depicted; Valid and invalid options for performing frottole as implied in visual sources; Addenda et corrigenda; Index.

Editorial Reviews

This volume presents previously published essays by Slim (musicologist and conductor) that relate to musical inscriptions in medieval and Renaissance works of art in all media, and reveal his interest in performance practice, in portraits of musicians, and in the many legends concerning Mary Magdalene. His work incorporates three procedures, i.e. addressing a single work of art containing a musical inscription; dealing with a single topic recurring in a number of art works, some or all of which contain musical inscriptions; and surveying musical choices made by one artist and his ensuing school. Contains several b&w illustrations. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

’Slim is...excellent at tracing different versions of paintings to get behind what the ravages of time and restoration may have destroyed. Apart from the intrinsic interest of the various paintings here, this provides models of the scholarship necessary for others wishing to study music in paintings.’ Early Music Review 'This is a welcome production by Ashgate, for the book includes several articles which until now had only been available in obscure publications... The book is highly recommended...' Music in Art '... provides useful scholarship in an underresearched area. Slim's text consists of eighteen of his essays written for various journals between 1964 and 1998 and an introduction, also written by him. Because the sources are so varied, it is useful to have this information and bibliography under one cover, especially for the art historian, who might not have ready access to journals of musicology... a good art history library would do its patrons a service to include this book in its collection and cross-reference it as such. All in all, the book is a good example of balanced cross-disciplinary scholarship, and it demonstrates that musicologists and art historians can help each other and learn from each other.' Sixteenth Century Journal

From the Publisher