Hendrick ter Brugghen, 'The Concert', about 1626

The Concert

Hendrick ter Brugghen

Room 24

About the work

Overview

We seem to have crept to within touching distance of this small group of musicians who turn towards us with surprise. The highly focused light source creates sharp highlights, intense shadows and a sense both of drama and intimacy. Dramatic lighting effects like this are now common, but in the 1620s it was a revolutionary way to paint. The man responsible for this revolution was Michelangelo Caravaggio, who was working in Rome between about 1597 and 1607.

Ter Brugghen was the first important Dutch painter to bring Caravaggio’s ideas back to Holland and this composition reveals his influence in other ways. The half-length figures crowded together within the composition and filling the pictorial space – right up to the edges of the frame – are typical of the Italian artist, as is the clarity and realism of the depiction of the grapes in the foreground.

In-depth

We seem to have crept up on this small group of musicians. They turn towards us, apparently only just aware of our presence, though we're within touching distance. A highly focused light source creates sharp highlights, intense shadows and a sense both of drama and intimacy.

Dramatic lighting effects like this are now common in art, films and photography. But in the 1620s, when this painting was made, it was a revolutionary way for artists to depict the world. The man responsible for this revolution was Michelangelo Caravaggio. Between about 1597 and 1607 this radical young painter transformed the art scene in Rome, then the capital of the art world, and his influence quickly spread all over Europe.

Ter Brugghen was the first important Dutch painter to bring Caravaggio’s ideas back to Holland. He had left Utrecht for Rome as a young trainee artist in 1604, aged about 16, when Caravaggio was at the height of his fame. We don’t know whether ter Brugghen met him but he certainly saw his paintings, and those of the many other artists in Rome who were copying and adapting his ideas.

This composition reveals Caravaggio’s influence in ways other than the dramatic lighting. The half-length figures crowded together within the composition and filling the pictorial space – right up to the edges of the frame – are typical of the Italian artist, as is the clarity and realism of the grapes in the foreground. The grapes not only give depth and perspective to the scene, but their sheen and transparency make them almost tangible. As well as these stylistic traits, ter Brugghen probably also borrowed the subject matter from Caravaggio: an early work of his shows a group of musicians preparing to play (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York).

But while his artistic debts are clear, ter Brugghen has also developed his own style. Caravaggio usually used a light source from outside the picture; by contrast, here ter Bruggen uses two within the picture. The candle in the foreground provides the highlights while, right at the top, a smaller flame casts flickering shadows on the background walls. There is also a softness to the outlines and the features of the figures, and subtlety to the colour palette, which is characteristic of the Dutch artist and a contrast with the sharper delineation preferred by Caravaggio.

Meanwhile, the choice of instruments may be significant. Here we see the extremes of what was – in the seventeenth century – perceived of as a musical hierarchy. The voice of the singer ranked highest; strings were considered the most elevated of instruments while the flute had the lowest status. By combining them in one ensemble, perhaps ter Bruggen wanted to emphasise that this painting was as much about music itself as it was a portrait of a group of musicians.

We have another musical painting by ter Brugghen in the National Gallery, but his subject matter varied widely and included many biblical scenes, such as Jacob reproaching Laban for giving him Leah in place of Rachel.

Want to find out more?

Delve deeper and explore the catalogue entry for this painting.

Key facts

Details

Full title: The Concert
Artist: Hendrick ter Brugghen
Artist dates: 1588 - 1629
Date made: about 1626
Medium and support: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 99.1 × 116.8 cm
Acquisition credit: Bought with contributions from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the Art Fund and The Pilgrim Trust, 1983
Inventory number: NG6483
Location: Room 24
Collection: Main Collection
Frame: 18th-century English Frame

Provenance

Somers collection, Eastnor Castle, Ledbury, Herefordshire. There are apparently no early inventories of the collection but the seventeenth-century Dutch paintings are said to have been purchased by Lord Somers (1651–1716), the Lord Chancellor of King William III, in around 1700. He made numerous trips to the Netherlands and presumably bought the paintings there. It is likely therefore that No. 6483 came to England c. 1700. It passed by descent to the Hon. Mrs E. Hervey-Bathurst, who in 1982 sold the painting to a foreign consortium from which it was purchased by the National Gallery in May 1983 with the aid of a contribution of £500,000 from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and donations from the Pilgrim Trust and the NACF.

Additional information

Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Neil MacLaren, revised and expanded by Christopher Brown, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School: 1600–1900’, London 1991; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.

Exhibition history

2013

Vermeer and Music: The Art of Love and Leisure

The National Gallery (London)

26 June 2013 - 8 September 2013
2016

Beyond Caravaggio

The National Gallery (London)

12 October 2016 - 15 January 2017

National Gallery of Ireland

11 February 2017 - 14 May 2017

Scottish National Gallery

17 June 2017 - 24 September 2017
2018

Utrecht, Caravaggio and Europe

Centraal Museum Utrecht

14 December 2018 - 24 March 2019

Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen

16 April 2019 - 21 July 2019

Bibliography

1935

N. Pevsner, 'The Birmingham Exhibition of Midland Art Treasures', The Burlington Magazine, LXVI/382, 1935, pp. 2, 30-1, 35
1952

R. Longhi, 'Caraveggeschi nordici', Paragone, III/33, 1952
1953

B. Nicolson, 'An Unknown Terbrugghen', The Burlington Magazine, XCV/599, 1953, pp. 52-4
1956

J.R. Judson, Gerrit van Honthorst, The Hague 1956
1956

A. Czobor, 'Über ein Unbekanntes bild des Hendrick Terbrugghen', Oud Holland, LXXI, 1956
1956

B. Nicolson, 'The Rijksmuseum Incredulity and Terbrugghen's Chronology', The Burlington Magazine, 1956
1959

H. Gerson, 'Review of Nicolson, Hendrick Terbrigghen, 1958', Kunstchronik, XII, 1959
1965

L.J. Slatkes, Dirck van Baburen, Utrecht 1965
1977

C. Brown, Dutch and Flemish Paintings, London 1977
1981

R.W. Bissell, Orazio Gentileschi and the Poetic Tradition in Caravaggesque Painting, London 1981
1983

C. Brown, 'Rubens' Watering Place: An Examination of His Landscape Technique', Ringling Museum of Art Journal, 1983, pp. 130-49
1985

National Gallery, The National Gallery Report: January 1982 - December 1984, London 1985
1987

M. Kitson, 'Review of Blanket and Slatkes, Nieuw licht op de Gouden Eeuw: Hendrick ter Brugghen en tijdgenoten, 1986', The Burlington Magazine, CXXIX/1007, 1987
1988

A. Seymour (ed.), Treasures for the Nation: Conserving our Heritage, London 1988
1989

B. Nicolson and L. Vertova, Caravaggism in Europe, Turin 1989
1990

P.H. Janssen, Schilders in Utrecht 1600-1700, Historische reeks Utrecht 15, Utrecht 1990
1991

Maclaren, Neil, revised by Christopher Brown, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 1600-1900, 2nd edn (revised and expanded), 2 vols, London 1991
1991

A. Blankert, A Newly Discovered Painting by Hendrick ter Brugghen, Zwolle 1991
1994

E. Langmuir, The National Gallery Companion Guide, London 1994
1996

L.J. Slatkes, 'Bringing ter Brugghen and Baburen Up-to-Date', Bulletin du Musée National de Varsovie, XXXVII, 1996, pp. 199-219
1997

C. Brown, Utrecht Painters of the Dutch Golden Age (exh. cat. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 13 September - 30 November 1997; Walters Art Gallery, 11 January - 5 April 1998; The National Gallery, London, 6 May - 2 August 1998), San Francisco 1997
1997

J.A. Spicer and L.F. Orr, Masters of Light: Dutch Painting from Utrecht in the Golden Age (exh. cat. Fine Arts Museums, 13 September - 30 November 1997; Walters Art Gallery, 11 January - 5 April 1998; The National Gallery, London, 6 May - 2 August 1998), San Francisco 1997
2001

C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
2001

A. Rüger, Vermeer and Painting in Delft (exh. cat. The National Gallery, London, 20 June - 16 September 2001), London 2001

Frame

This is an exquisite eighteenth-century English neoclassical frame, carved from pinewood and retaining its original gilding. The top of the architrave moulding curves outwards, bordered by a carved ribbon-and-stick motif that edges the fluted frieze. Decorative rosettes are placed at the centres and corners. A fillet is followed by a twisted ribbon and a small cavetto at the sight edge. Notably, both ribbon ornaments are centred and change directions, a subtle yet significant detail.

The frame was made specifically for Ter Brugghen’s The Concert when it was part of the Somers collection at Eastnor Castle in Herefordshire.

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

Images

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Room 24

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Two men, one old, one young, hands raised and fingers pointing, seem to be arguing. We are being presented with a key moment in a story, but since the picture has no surviving title we have to make an educated guess as to what it is.The most likely candidate is the account in the Old Testament of...

Room 24

Hendrick ter Brugghen, 'The Concert', about 1626

About the work

Overview

In-depth

Key facts

Details

Provenance

Additional information

Source

Exhibition history

Bibliography

Frame

About this record

Images

More works by Hendrick ter Brugghen