About the Artwork
In 1611, Dirck Van Baburen traveled from Utrecht to Italy. He spent most of his sojourn in Rome, where, like many visiting artists, he was drawn to the radically innovative work of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571–1610). Baburen responded to the late painter’s dramatic lighting and preference for realistic models in his own work, and when he returned home in 1620, he became an influential figure in a small circle of Carvaggisti painters in Utrecht. In The Concert, Baburen presents a ragtag group. Their costumes and instruments range from historic to contemporary, and the woman’s gesture of crowning the robe-clad lutenist with a floral wreath may indicate that they are a performance troupe joined by an elegant gentleman. The light that streams in from the left shimmers on his silken sleeves and the polished wood of his violin, highlighting, as well, the flushed faces of the other spirited musicians.
From Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts 89 (2015)
The Concert
ca. 1623
Dirck Van Baburen
between 1594 and 1595-1624
Dutch
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Oil on canvas
Unframed: 41 1/2 × 52 1/2 inches (105.4 × 133.3 cm)
Paintings
European Painting
Museum Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund
2010.17
Public Domain
Markings
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Provenance
by 1860, Prince Rohan (Vienna, Austria);ca. 1860, gift to Dr. Alajos Paikert [1831–1914] (Budapest, Hungary);
1914, by descent to his son, Alajos de Paikert [1866–1948] (Budapest, Hungary).
January 24, 2008, (Sotheby's, New York, New York, USA) Important Old Master Paintings Including European Works of Art, lot 244;
2008–2010, (Adam Williams, Ltd.,New York, New York, USA);
2010–present, purchased by Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
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Provenance pageExhibition History
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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
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Suggest FeedbackPublished References
Bulletin of the DIA: Notable Acquisitions, 2000–2015, vol. 89, no. 1/4 (2015): p. 61 (ill.).
Dekiert, Marcus. Musikanten in der Malerei der Niederländischen Carvaggio-Nachfolge. Munster, 2003, pp. 252–254, 290.
Franits, Wayne. The Paintings of Dirck van Baburen (ca. 1592/93–1624): Catalogue Raisonné. Philadelphia, 2013, pp. 164–165, no. A35, 318, pl. 35.
Old Master Paintings Including European Works of Art. Sales cat., Sotheby’s, New York, January 24-25, 2008, no. 244.
Städelschen Kunstinstitut Frankfurt am Main. Caravaggio in Holland: Musik und Genre bei Caravaggio und den Utrechter Caravaggisten. Munich, 2009, p. 172–173, cat. 35.
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Credit Line for Reproduction
Dirck Van Baburen, The Concert, ca. 1623, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Museum Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund, 2010.17.
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