''Three Musicians'' is an
oil painting
Oil painting is a painting method involving the procedure of painting with pigments combined with a drying oil as the Binder (material), binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on canvas, wood panel, or oil on coppe ...
by
Diego Velázquez
Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (baptised 6 June 15996 August 1660) was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the Noble court, court of King Philip IV of Spain, Philip IV of Spain and Portugal, and of the Spanish Golden Age. He i ...
, a Spanish Baroque painter considered one of the great Spanish
naturalists
Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...
. It depicts three young men grouped around a dinner table playing music. It is painted in
chiaroscuro
In art, chiaroscuro ( , ; ) is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to ach ...
, a Baroque painting technique that made use of the contrast between light and dark shadows to achieve a sense of volume.
The work is part of the collection of the
Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
The (, Painting Gallery) is an art museum in Berlin, Germany, and the museum where the main selection of paintings belonging to the Berlin State Museums (''Staatliche Museen zu Berlin'') is displayed. It was first opened in 1830, and the cur ...
.
Description
''Three Musicians'' is one of Velázquez's earliest works, from his early
Seville
Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...
period. It is one of approximately ten paintings in the
bodegón
The term ''bodega'' in Spanish language, Spanish can mean "pantry", "tavern", or "wine cellar". In general usage, the derivative term ''bodegón'' is an augmentative that refers to a large ''bodega'', usually in a derogatory fashion. In Spanish ar ...
style that Velázquez executed before 1622, while living in Seville. Its subject is similar to that of another painting, ''
The Farmers' Lunch''. In this painting three young men are grouped around a table eating, drinking and playing music, with strong contrasts of light and darkness around the figures. The light falls from the left, creating sharp shadows and intense highlights. Two men with stringed instruments are singing while the third, the youngest, has an instrument of his own under his arm and a glass of wine in his hand; he displays the glass with a mocking smile, pointing out the wine that inspires the musicians. In the background can be seen a
monkey
Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes. Thus monkeys, in that sense, co ...
with a pear in hand. The monkey emphasizes the grotesque nature of the scene.
A loaf of bread on a napkin, a glass of wine, and a piece of cheese with a knife stuck into it give Velázquez the opportunity to study the different textures. An interesting feature of ''Three Musicians'' is the variety of issues raised, such as whether it is a
genre representation or whether behind the supposedly everyday scene there are hidden layers of meaning, which can make the picture readable as an allegory, giving it a different interpretation.
See also
*
List of works by Diego Velázquez
This is a list of paintings and drawings by the 17th-century Spanish artist Diego Velázquez. Velázquez is estimated to have produced between only 110 and 120 known canvases. Among these paintings, however, are many widely known and influential ...
*
''Three Musicians'' (Picasso)
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
Spanish Baroque, several works of Velasquez
{{DEFAULTSORT:Three Musicians
1618 paintings
Food and drink paintings
Paintings by Diego Velázquez
Paintings in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
Monkeys in art
Musical instruments in art
Seville-period paintings by Diego Velázquez
Genre paintings