  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)
  
  
  Title
  The Concert
  
  
  Artwork Date
  ca. 1623
  
  Artist
  Dirck Van Baburen
  
  
  
  Life Dates
  between 1594 and 1595-1624
  
  
  
  
  Nationality
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events.
  Some definitions include:
  Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation.
  
  
  
  Dutch
  
  
  
  Culture
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group.
  
  
  
  
  ----------
  
  
  Medium
  Oil on canvas
  
  
  Dimensions
  Unframed: 41 1/2 × 52 1/2 inches (105.4 × 133.3 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Paintings
  
  
  Department
  European Painting
  
  
  Credit
  Museum Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  2010.17
  
  
  Copyright
  Public Domain
