A Concert

Image credit: The National Gallery, London

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Notes

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With this painting, Costa invented a type of image that would become very popular in northern Italy, particularly Venice, in the sixteenth century. The band of singers is engrossed in the camaraderie of their music; as she sings, the young woman keeps time by tapping her fingers against the marble ledge and her companion’s shoulder. He is deep in concentration, his eyes lowered towards the open book containing the musical composition. The young man behind him appears to be straining to reach or hold a note and he too is tapping time on the ledge.

The picture does not depict a particular moment or people. It is more likely that it was made to entertain an educated and wealthy patron who, like his contemporaries, embraced the fashion for cantare a libro (’singing from a book'), a developing trend in northern Italy.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

A Concert

Date

about 1485–95

Medium

oil on wood

Measurements

H 95.3 x W 75.6 cm;
H 95.3 x W 75.6 cm

Accession number

NG2486

Acquisition method

Salting Bequest, 1910

Work type

Painting

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