Cittern Picture Gallery - ArtworkLast updated Sunday, April 02, 2023. |
The cittern gallery attempts to catalogue paintings and other artwork about citterns from the 14th through 18th centuries. Due to the large number of images available, loading time may be extremely slow. (Please be patient!)
Works in are currently sorted by approximate date except where there are many works by one artist (in which case works are grouped by that artist).
When an image is available for viewing, titles of pieces are highlighted. Works listed are paintings unless otherwise noted.
To assist those researching, reference is made to Louis Peter Grijp's article, "Fret Patterns of the Cittern" (Galpin Society Journal, XXXIV, pp.62-97). Where an image corresponds to one used in Grijp's study, I have cited this source in the additional comments section by the designation "*LPG" plus his reference number.
A NOTICE ABOUT COPYRIGHT: |
All attempts have been made not to reproduce any copyrighted image (unless express permission has been given). Most of the images presented here were found on the Internet via standard Internet search engines. Images have been freely borrowed from various sites when no copyright notice exists. When an image has been designated as copyrighted, a low-resolution thumbnail image has been provided only for point of reference, and a hyperlink to the appropriate website has been given in order for one to view the larger image. Please note that permission should be obtained for the duplication of any of the images on this site. Should a copyrighted image be mistakenly included in the gallery, please contact me. |
| Work title | Type | Artist | Approx. Date | Location | Other Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
sculpture | Benedetto Antelami | ca.1180 | Baptistry in Parma, Italy | Shows an instrument with four distinct strings, a bridge, definite raised frets, and small wings at the top of the body. |
| Figures in Minstrel's Gallery | sculpture | anon.? | 14th c. | Exeter Cathedral | The first figure holds an oval instrument thought by Galpin to depict the earliest extant image of a cittern. Shown in Galpin, Old English Instruments of Music (London, 1911), p.27 and Kinsky, Music History in Pictures, p.51. (Waldbauer, 1964) |
| Miniature from MS of Seneca's tragedies | painting? | Neopolitan school | late 14th c. | ? | Shown in F. Testi, La musica italiana nel Medioeveo e nel Rinascimento (Milan, 1969), pl. opposite p.147. (Grove, 2001) |
 Putto playing an instrument |
sculpture | anon.? | late 14th c. or early 15th c. | Beverly Minster | The figure plays a fig-shaped instrument (citole?). Image can also be seen in Galpin, Old English Instruments of Music (London, 1911), p.28. (Waldbauer, 1964) |
"Cantoria" [singing-gallery] |
sculpture | Luca della Robbia | 1431-8 | Italy, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo | Originally sculpted for Florence Cathedral; sculpture includes two women playing citterns. Image also found in Winternitz, Musical Instruments and their Symbolism in Western Art. (New York, 1967, 2/1979), pl.13. (Grove, 2001) |
| Greek gods | sculpture | Agostino di Duccio | 1449-56 | Church of S Francesco, Rimini | Depicts citterns with block frets. Images in Winternitz, Musical Instruments and their Symbolism in Western Art. (New York, 1967, 2/1979), pls. 4 and 5. (Grove, 2001) |
 printed tarocchi cards |
woodcut | attr. to Andrea Mantegna | c.1467 | British Museum | Includes two depictions of Terpsichore playing a guitar-shaped instrument with block frets and end-fastened strings. (Grove, 2001) |
Studiolo from the Ducal Palace in Gubbio (detail). |
intarsia | Designed by Francesco di Giorgio Martini (1439–1502); Executed by Giuliano da Majano (1432–1490); Italian; Made in Gubbio, Italy. | 15th century (ca. 1479–82). | Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (?) | Notice the unusual frets on this instrument (raised pieces of wood rather
than inlaid metal frets). Perhaps one of the earliest reliable(?) pictures of
a cittern in art in existence.
For a complete on-line tour of the Studiolo, visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art Studiolo Website |
| "Terpsichore with cittern," from "Apollo and the Nine Muses" | painting (fresco) | attr. to Giovanni di or Pietro lo Spagna | c. 1516 | Rome, Pinacoteca Capitolina Palazzo dei Conservatori | (Waldbauer, 1964) |
"Madonna" (detail) |
painting | Gerolamo dai Libri | 1526 | Verona, San Giorgio Maggiore | *LPG #11 |
"Lute player" [sic] |
drawing | Girolamo da Treviso | (1498 - 1544) | France, Private collection | Pen, ink, wash, and chalk. Despite the title, the image clearly shows a cittern. Sold in 2005 on ArtNet, http://www.artnet.de. |
| - | engraving | G. de Jode | (1509-1581) | Antwerp, Prentenkab. | *LPG #58 reverse image |
 Staircase carvings (citterns and bandoras?) |
carving | anon. | 1582 | Staircase carvings from "Theobalds," William Cecil's (Lord Burghley's) house near London, now in Herstmonceaux Castle. | Photos reprinted by permission of Peter Forrester. According to Forrester, "Note (especially by position of the bridge relative to the bouts) the parallel bridge and frets on 6 course [bandora?], angled on 7 course." |
| "Monkey playing diatonically fretted cittern" | drawing? | from the German MS. Splendor Solis | 1582 | MS Harl. 3469, f.3., British Library | Can be seen on the front cover of Roxana Gundry-Brookes' modern cittern tutor. |
| - | drawing | Veccho | c.1588 | London | pen drawing. *LPG #45 MS. Add. 30342, fol. 144 |
| "Music-making couple" | engraving | M. de Vos (engr. by C. de Passe) |
c. 1590 | The Hague, Gemeentemuseum | *LPG #62 |
 "Birth and Death of Sir Henry Unton" (detail) |
painting | anon.(?) | c. 1596 | National Portrait Gallery, London. | NPG 710. oil on panel. 74 x 163.2 cm This detail is part of a "masque" scene and depicts a typical "English Consort" of six musicians playing (from top, going clockwise): lute, cittern, bass viol, bandora(?), treble viol, and flute. See full painting at National Portrait Gallery website. |
 "Musica" |
engraving | F. de Vrient(?) (engr. by C. Cort—died 1578) |
16th c. | The Hague, Gemeentemuseum | *LPG #57 |
 "Athena visits the Muses" |
painting | Frans Floris [de Vriendt] | 16th c. | Antwerp, Condé on Scheldt Museum | - |
| "Hearing" | engraving | M. de Vos
(engr. by N. de Bruyn — died 1656) |
16th c. | Rijksprentenkabinet, Amsterdam | *LPG #63 |
| - | engraving | M. de Vos (engr. by C. de Passe) |
16th c. | The Hague, Gemeentemuseum | *LPG #64
mirror-image |
| "Hearing" | engraving | M. de Vos (engr. by G. Fentzel) |
16th c. | New York, Public Library | *LPG #65 |
"Adolescentia Amori" |
engraving | M. de Vos | 16th c. | ? | - |
"Terra" |
engraving | M. de Vos | 16th c. | ? | - |
"Apollo and the Muses" |
painting | M. de Vos | 16th c. | Brussels, Koninklijk Museum | *LPG #61 |
 "Marriage at Cana" |
painting | Marten de Vos | 1596-7 | O.-L. Vrouwekathedraal, Antwerp | Oil on panel. 268 x 235 cm Two lute players, a cittern player, and a singer perform from the balcolny above the wedding feast. While no music for an ensemble of this sort survives, the closest approximation would be the Pacoloni lute trios plus the cittern part from Viaera. |
 "Dives and Lazarus" (detail). |
painting | Marten de Vos | 16th c. | Private collection. | Oil on panel. Three lute players and a cittern player play from a balcony in the detail from this image. Of note is that they all play from open music books (suggesting amateurs or servants rather than professionals?) and that this is the same instrumentation used by the Pacoloni/Viaera lute/cittern books. (Image courtesy of Katharine Ara Paintings Conservation and Restoration.) |
| "Serenade" | painting | Jan Massijs (died 1575) | 16th c. | - | *LPG #59
guitar-shape with slanting shoulders |
 "Music-making company" or "Joyful Reunion" |
painting | Jan Massijs (died 1575) | 16th c. | Stockholm National Museum | *LPG #60
guitar-shape with slanting shoulders |
 (detail) |
painting? | ? | 16th c.? | Gilling Castle, Yorkshire (England) | Part of the frieze in the Great Chamber of Gilling Castle, Yorkshire (England). The lady in the center plays the cittern while the gentleman on either side of her play different size viols. |
| "Last Supper" | painting | Salviati | 16th c.? | sacristy of the Salute, Venice | Originally in the monastery of the Spirito Santo in Isola. Cited in "Italian Citterns in the Museum of the Paris Conservatoire" by Peter Forrester, The Lute (Journal of the Lute Society), vol. XXXI (1991). |
| organ doors | painting | Salviati | 16th c.? | sacristy of the Salute, Venice | Originally in the monastery of the Spirito Santo in Isola. One panel has a picture of Saul hurling a spear; the other has an image of David dropping his cittern. Cited in "Italian Citterns in the Museum of the Paris Conservatoire" by Peter Forrester, The Lute (Journal of the Lute Society), vol. XXXI (1991). |
| "Heavenly Choir" | fresco | Niccolo Pomarancio | (1552 - 1626) | dome of S Pudenziana, Rome | - |
| "Amor Allegory" | painting | anon. | c. 1600 | - | *LPG #68 |
Title page from Del Sonare |
engraving? | Agazzari | 1607 | - | *LPG #12 The cittern is partially obscured — upper right hand corner. One can tell the cittern apart from the other instruments by the strings which pass over the bridge and attach to the end of the instrument. |
| Organ panel | carving? | R. van Zijl | c.1608 | Utrecht, Centraal Museum | *LPG #69 |
| "Wedding of Duke Joh. Fr. von Würtemberg" | woodcut | B. Küchbe | 1611 | - | *LPG #122 woodcut. mirror-image |
"Music-making company" |
engraving | Simon de Passe | 1612 | Veste Coburg art collection | Inv.-Nr. VII 308.26 |
"Woman playing the cittern" |
painting | Caesar Bovetius van Everdingen | 1617 | Rouen, Musée des Beaux Arts (?) | *LPG #83 (?) |
"Vanitas" |
engraving | D. Matham | 1622 | Haarlem, Gem. Archief | *LPG #71 |
"Minerva and the Muses" |
painting | Hendrik de Clerck | (c.1570-c.1629) | - | - |
| "Apollo and the Muses" | painting | J. Tilens | (1589-1630) | Coll. Jacob van Merlen | *LPG #66 |
"Allegoria della Scienza" |
painting | Giovanni Serodine | c. 1630 | Biblioteca Abrosiana, Milan(?) | oil on canvas. 89 x 124 cm |
 "Young Man and Woman making Music" |
painting | Jan Molenaer | c. 1630-32 | National Gallery, London. | cat. no. NG1293. Bought, 1889. Oil on canvas. 68 x 84 cm.
Larger image available at the National Gallery website. |
"Allegory of Vanity" or "Lady World" |
painting | Jan Molenaer | 1633 | Toledo (Ohio), Museum of Art | *LPG #73 oil on planel. 102 x 127 cm |
 "Family Portrait" |
painting | Jan Molenaer | c. 1635 | Frans Halsmuseum, Haarlem (on loan) | = *LPG #74? (Listed by Grijp as "Company") Oil on canvas, 63.5 x 81 cm |
| "Company" | painting | Jan Molenaer | 1635 | Rotterdam, Museum Boymans—Van Beuningen? | *LPG #75 |
| "Peasants" | painting | Jan Molenaer | (c.1610-1668) | Geneva, Musée d'Art et Historie | *LPG #76 |
| - | painting | Jan Molenaer | (c.1610-1668) | Leipzig | *LPG #77 |
unknown title |
painting | Jan Molenaer | (c.1610-1668) | ? | - |
unknown title |
painting | Jan Molenaer | (c.1610-1668) | ? | - |
| "Youth Playing a Guitar" | painting | Astolfo Petrazzi | (1580 - 1653) | ? | Sold at auction by Sotheby's New York, January 27, 2006, sale NO8162.
Listed in the catalogue of "Important Old Master Paintings," Lot no. 217.
The title mistakenly identifies the instrument as a guitar (thanks to
Michael Fleming and Peter Forrester for calling this painting to my attention).
The painting is remarkable in that it shows a cittern in very great detail. It appears to have 6 courses and very specific diatonic fretting. |
"The duet" |
painting | Cornelis Saftleven | c. 1635 | Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Vienna | oil on panel, 34 x 53 cm
Depicts a very large (bass?) cittern. |
| "Self portrait with Rembrandt" | painting (litho?) | A. Brouwer | 1638 | Cologne, Heyer | *LPG #72 litho made in 1850. |
"Student Music" |
engraving | Crispijn de Passe | (1564 - 1637) | The Hague, Gemeentemuseum | inv. PM 62zj |
| "Musical Conversation" | engraving | C. J. Visscher after Esais and Jan van de Velde | (1586-1652) | - | Shown as the cover illustration to The Lute (Journal of the Lute Society) vol. XXIII, part 1 (1983). |
"David Playing Before Saul" |
painting | Bernardo Cavallino | 1645 | Art History Museum, Vienna | oil on canvas Image courtesy of The CGFA |
 "Collegium Musicum" |
painting | C. Droochsloot | 1645 | Utrecht, Centraal Museum | *LPG #84 (Listed by Grijp as "Interior") |
 "Tempatation of St. Jerome" (detail) |
painting | Francisco de Zurbarán | mid 17th c. | ? | - |
"Vanitas" |
painting | Cornelis de Heem | after 1661 | ? | - |
| "Terpsichore" | engraving | W. Kilian | (1581-1662) | The Hague, Gemeentemuseum | *LPG #70
mirror-image |
 "Cittern Player (Allegory of Hearing)" |
painting | Cornelis Bega | (1631/32-1664) | Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, Music Department | panel, 41 x 35.8 cm. |
"Allegory of Vanity" |
painting | G. B. Castiglione | (c. 1610-65) | ? | - |
 "A Woman singing and a Man with a Cittern" |
painting | Godfried Schalcken | c. 1665-70 | National Gallery, London. | cat. no. NG998. Wynn Ellis Bequest, 1876. Oil on oak. 26.6 x 20.4 cm. Larger image available at the National Gallery website. |
 "Young woman with cittern" |
painting | Godfried Schalcken | (1634-1706) | Bredius Museum, The Hague | panel, 24 x 19 cm |
 "Cittern Player" |
painting | Gabriel Metsu | (1629-67) | - | - |
| - | painting | Gabriel Metsu | (1629-67) | Florence, Uffizi | *LPG #79 |
| - | engraving | Gabriel Metsu | (1629-67) | - | *LPG #80
engraving of LPG #79 |
| - | engraving | Gabriel Metsu | (1629-67) | - | *LPG #81
engraving of LPG #79 |
"A Woman with a Cittern and a Singing Couple at a Table" |
painting | Pieter de Hoogh (a.k.a. de Hooch) | c. 1667 | Taft Museum of Art, Cincinnati (Ohio) | oil on canvas |
"Music-making family" |
painting | Pieter de Hoogh (a.k.a. de Hooch) | (period 1668-1684) | Cleveland, Ohio | - |
 "Musical company" or "Trio" |
painting | P. de Hoogh (a.k.a. de Hooch) | (period 1668-1684) | Utah Museum of Fine Art? | - |
| - | painting | P. de Hoogh (a.k.a. de Hooch) | (period 1668-1684) | - | *LPG #87 |
| - | painting | P. de Hoogh (a.k.a. de Hooch) | (period 1668-1684) | - | *LPG #88 |
| - | painting | P. de Hoogh (a.k.a. de Hooch) | (period 1668-1684) | - | *LPG #89 |
| - | painting | P. de Hoogh (a.k.a. de Hooch) | (period 1668-1684) | - | *LPG #90 |
| "Company making music" | painting | P. de Hoogh (a.k.a. de Hooch) | (period 1668-1684) | Collection Colnaghi | *LPG #91 |
| "Company making music" | painting | P. de Hoogh (a.k.a. de Hooch) | (period 1668-1684) | Collection Krupp | *LPG #92 |
| - | painting | P. de Hoogh (a.k.a. de Hooch) | (period 1668-1684) | - | *LPG #93 |
| - | painting | P. de Hoogh (a.k.a. de Hooch) | (period 1668-1684) | - | *LPG #94 |
| "Company making music" | painting | P. de Hoogh (a.k.a. de Hooch) | (period 1668-1684) | Collection Asscher | *LPG #95 |
| "Company making music" | painting | P. de Hoogh (a.k.a. de Hooch) | (period 1668-1684) | Collection Seymour | *LPG #96 |
| - | painting | P. de Hoogh (a.k.a. de Hooch) | 1667 or 1677 | - | *LPG #97 Contains a "hooghlute" (mixture of cittern and lute) |
| - | painting | P. de Hoogh (a.k.a. de Hooch) | (period 1668-1684) | - | *LPG #98 Contains a "hooghlute" (mixture of cittern and lute) |
| - | painting | P. de Hoogh (a.k.a. de Hooch) | 1675 | - | *LPG #99 Contains a "hooghlute" (mixture of cittern and lute) |
| - | painting | P. de Hoogh (a.k.a. de Hooch) | (period 1668-1684) | - | *LPG #100 Contains a "hooghlute" (mixture of cittern and lute) |
| - | painting | P. de Hoogh (a.k.a. de Hooch) | (period 1668-1684) | - | *LPG #101 Contains a "hooghlute" (mixture of cittern and lute) |
"Woman playing the cittern" |
painting | Jan Steen | (1626-1670) | - | - |
"Merry company on terrace" |
painting | Jan Steen | (1626-1670) | New York, Metropolitan Museum | *LPG #78 |
"The love letter" |
painting | Jan Vermeer | c. 1669-70 | Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum | *LPG #82
A very large image view of this picture can be seen at the Rijksmuseum page. |
"The glass of wine" |
painting | Jan Vermeer | 17th c. | - | - |
 "Frühstück des Musikanten" ("Musician's breakfast") |
painting | Job Adriaensz Berckheijde (1630-1693) | c. 1670 | Schwerin, Staatliche Museen | Oil on canvas, 63.8 x 54.0 cm |
"Musical Company" |
painting | Jan Hermansz van Bijlert | (1597/8-1671) | The Hague, Gemeentemuseum | panel, 68 x 95.5 cm. |
"Trompe l'oeil with Musical Instruments" |
painting | Cornelis Norbertus Gijsbrechts (a.k.a Gysbrechts) | (c.1610-c.1675) | Copenhagen, Statens Museum for Kunst? | Includes both a cittern and an orpharion(?) |
"Woman with cittern" |
painting | Pieter van Slingeland | 1677 | Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (?), Mildred Anna Williams Collection | cat. no. 1940.25 |
| "Company making music" | painting | P.C. van Slingelandt | 17th c. | San Francisco, Palace of the Legion | *LPG #85 |
"Allegory of Hearing" |
painting | Jan van Kessel | (1626-1679) | Private Collection | *LPG #67? (Grijp notes in his entry #67 that there is an "Allegory of Hearing" by
"J. Brueghel II and J. van Kessel," but all art sources seem to indicate
that this particular painting is by Kessel only. There is another "Allegory of
Hearing" by Brueghel the elder upon which Kessel's work may be based; however,
Breughel's work does not seem to contain a cittern.)
panel, 56 x 89 cm. The cittern can be seen on the table on the right. |
"The Virgin surrounded of the symbols of vanity" |
painting | Jan van Kessel | (1626-1679) | Belgium, private collection(?) | Oil on canvas. |
"A Musical Company of Gentlemen and Ladies" |
painting | Frans van Mieris the Elder and (?) Willem van Mieris | (1635-1681) | private collection | panel, 46.3 x 38.5 cm |
"Duo" |
painting | Jan Verkolje I | (1650-1693) | private collection | oil on canvas. 68 x 55.5 cm |
 Angel Playing the citra or cithara (cittern). |
statue | anon., Portuguese | c. 1680 | Monastery of Alcobaca, Leiria, Portugal. | Image provided by Pedro Caldeira Cabral. |
| "The Family Portrait" | painting | Michiel van Musscher | c. 1689 | Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp | oil on canvas(?) Inventory #739. The image is currently in storage by the museum. Crackling of the paint has obscured some of the image, in particular the music from the open book of (cittern?!) music. The following information comes from art history graduate student Robert E. Gerhardt, M.D.: Michiel van Musscher (Rotterdam 1645 - Amsterdam 1705) was a well-known portraitist in his time, but is almost unknown today. The girl playing the cittern [in the painting] is his daughter, shown in a large family portrait "The Family Portrait" of the artist and his immediate family; it is currently dated to ca. 1689. The museum also uses the title "Family of the Painter" for the work. (Feb. 2006) |
"Still life with a volume of Wither's Emblems" |
painting | Edward Collier | 1696 | Tate Britain, Millbank, London | No. 5916. According to Peter Forrester, this is a "very detailed cittern (worm-holes etc.) of Playford's period. Four double courses; 1 and 2 paired iron? 3 and 4 paired twisted brass." |
 "The chess-players" |
painting | Cornelis de Man | (1621-1706) | Budapest, Szépmüvészeti Mus. (Museum of Fine Arts) | *LPG #86 Oil on canvas. 97.5 x 85 cm |
"Musical Instruments" |
painting | Evaristo Baschenis | mid-17th c.? | Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels | oil on canvas. 98.5 x 147 cm |
 "Musical Instruments" |
painting | Evaristo Baschenis | mid-17th c.? | Accademia Carrara, Bergamo(?) | One of several paintings by Baschenis or his followers which may depict a ceterone (see the second pegbox just visible above the back of the lute). |
 (carved fireplace) |
carving | ? | 17th c. | Kilconquhar Castle, Fife, Scotland | Photo courtesy of David Kilpatrick, http://www.maxwellplace.demon.co.uk/pandemonium/ |
"Mrs. Philip Thicknesse, née Ann Ford" |
painting | Thomas Gainsborough | 1760 | Art Museum, Cincinnati, USA | oil on canvas. Depicts an English guittar. |
 "Old man with tortoises" |
painting | G. F. Cipper Tedesco (?) | 18th c. | Stockholm, Nat. Mus. | *LPG #13 |
 Portrait of a young musician. |
painting | Anonymous, French | 18th c. | ? | - |
| "Musica" - | engraving | M. Lasne | 18th c. | - | *LPG #46 |
 "Lady with cittern" |
painting | Reinier de la Haye | ? | ? | - |
"Mercury and Erato" |
painting | Anon.—Flemish? | ? | - | - |
"Allegory of Hearing" |
painting | Jan van Balen | ? | - | - |
"Outdoor Gathering in Front of the Terrace" (detail) |
painting | Johann Georg Platzer | ? | - | oil on copper. 50 X 65 cm This painting was apparently the victim of the Nazis' seizure of Jewish cultural property in France during WWII and was a part of the "Jeu de Paume" Museum in Paris from 1940-1944. For more information, see The Documentation Project: Project for the Documentation of Wartime Cultural Losses ("View 3e"). |
"Hanging Instruments" |
painting? | anon.(?) - Dutch | ? | Nurenberg, Germanisch National Museum | - |