Betsy Wieseman: Music was one of the primary entertainments in the seventeenth century
in a typical Dutch city.
You had city musicians who would often give performances in the town.
There was music in the taverns, there was music in the church.
But I think most people enjoyed musical performances in their own homes.
Richard Egarr: The nouveaux riche and all the rich traders were having musical parties
at their houses and using all this music in a domestic situation, which was very, very
important; so that it was a way of meeting each other and having a good time.
Betsy Wieseman: Having a painting with a musical subject on your wall would help you to recall
that pleasant experience that you have with friends and family.
Music offered a rare chance in the seventeenth century for men and women to get together
without a chaperone, because I think it was assumed that if you hands and thoughts were
occupied with music they weren't doing something else.
I think a good example of this is the painting by Jan Steen of the woman seated at a harpsichord
and the man sort of slouching over the side of it.
There are two inscriptions, one on the keyboard flap by the woman that says, 'Only for the
Glory of God'; and the second one on the lid of the harpsichord that says 'Actions prove
the man'.
We see in the background a young boy bringing a huge lute for the man to embark on a duet
with this young woman.
And very often a duet in music is the prelude to a more intimate relationship between a
man and a woman.
Artists used music as a metaphor for harmony in all its different aspects.
It was used to symbolise political harmony, familial harmony and I think most often, harmony
between a man and a woman.
One of the most beautiful examples of this is a painting be Gabriel Metsu.
Its composition just seems designed to be harmonious.
The woman leans to offer the man a sheet of music, the man tips a glass in her direction.
It's a very congenial, very harmonious and very intimate exchange between the two people.
Before the age of recorded music, music only existed in the moments of it playing.
As soon as the sound of the music died away the music itself was dead, and this was likened
to a person's life.
For example in the Vanitas painting by Treck we see common symbols of transience such as
the skull but we also see several musical symbols.
We see a violin in the background, an open musical score; things that remind you of the
temporary nature of human existence.
I think the paintings are just remarkable.
We get I think a very good sense of how they loved music.
Pavlo Beznosiuk: They get you just here because the people depicted are real.
We could know those people.
They're studying an instrument, they're pining for love maybe, there's a little bit of a
frisson going on.
Betsy Wieseman: I think it's that aspect of these paintings that we can really connect
with today, that similar shared enjoyment.