Still-life with Musical Instruments

still-life

Baschenis, an artist from Bergamo, was a highly specialized painter who worked almost exclusively on the portrayal of stringed instruments. The nearby town of Cremona, a famous centre of violin and lute making, provided him with his models. However, unlike the Netherlandish artists, who often used musical instruments as symbols of hearing, while the transience of the notes recalled the transience of life, Baschenis does not paint scenes of allegorical or moral significance.

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About the Artist

Evaristo Baschenis

1617 – 1677

Italian painter, the most prominent of a family of artists recorded from 1400. He was ordained c. 1647 and painted a few religious subjects, but his fame rests chiefly on his beautifully poised and polished still-lifes of muscial instruments. His predilection for the subject may have been associated with the contemporary fame of the Amati family of violin-makers of Cremona, which is near to Baschenis's native town of Bergamo. The Accademia Carrara there has the best collection of his paintings.

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