''Venus plays the Harp'' (also known as an ''Allegory of Music'') is a painting by the Italian Baroque painter

Giovanni Lanfranco Giovanni Lanfranco (26 January 1582 – 30 November 1647) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period. Biography Giovanni Gaspare Lanfranco was born in Parma, the third son of Stefano and Cornelia Lanfranchi, and was placed as a page in the ho ...

. It is housed in the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica at Palazzo Barberini, Rome.

Description

The work was painted by Lanfranco prior to his departure in 1634 for Naples. It was made for the musician

Marco Marazzoli Marco Marazzoli (1602? – 26 January 1662) was an Italian priest and Baroque music composer. Early life Born at Parma, Marazzoli received early training as a priest, and was ordained around 1625. He moved to Rome in 1626, and entered the s ...

, also called Marco dell’Arpa (Marco of the

Harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orche ...

) for his skill with the instrument. The semi-disrobed female playing the instrument in the painting is identified with Venus by virtue of the

amoretti ''Amoretti'' is a sonnet cycle written by Edmund Spenser in the 16th century. The cycle describes his courtship and eventual marriage to Elizabeth Boyle. ''Amoretti'' was first published in 1595 in London by William Ponsonby (publisher), William ...

in the background. The engraved bees on the wooden triple harp identify it as belonging to the Barberini family. This instrument is on display in the Museo degli Strumenti Musicali in Rome. Marazzoli, after his death, left it to his patron the cardinal Antonio Barberini.Entry at Galleria Nazionale
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References

1634 paintings Paintings by Giovanni Lanfranco Madonna and Child Tarquinia(Lippi) Musical instruments in art Paintings of Venus {{17C-painting-stub