Bagpipe Player
Historical Context
Hendrick ter Brugghen's Bagpipe Player, painted in 1624, is a genre painting of a musician that combines Dutch naturalism with the Caravaggist lighting effects Ter Brugghen had mastered during his decade in Rome. Musical subjects were popular among the Utrecht Caravaggists, who used them to display their skills with dramatic lighting and expressive characterization. The bagpipe player, a common figure in tavern and pastoral scenes, allowed Ter Brugghen to explore texture, expression, and the effects of concentrated light.
Technical Analysis
Ter Brugghen's oil-on-canvas technique renders the musician with bold, direct brushwork and the warm, earthy palette of his mature period. The strong side-lighting illuminates the player's face and hands with sculptural clarity, while the bagpipe provides an opportunity for still-life-like textural rendering.
Provenance
Possibly Aernout van Lingen, Utrecht, by 1676.[1] probably with (Glenz, Berlin), in 1915;[2] possibly Gustav Klemperer Edler von Klemenau [1852-1926], Dresden; his son, Dr. Herbert von Klemperer [1878-1951], Berlin;[3] (sale, Lange, Berlin, 18-19 November 1938, no. 151); acquired by Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne, inv. no. 2613; restituted July 2008 to Klemperer's heirs; (sale, Sotheby's, New York, 9 January 2009, no. 40); (Johnny Van Haeften London Ltd., London; Otto Naumann, New York; Bernheimer Fine Art Ltd., Munich); purchased April 2009 by NGA. [1] The inventory of Aernout van Lingen, "raad in de Vroedshap," which was made in Utrecht in 1676, lists: "Een saakpijp van Ter Brugghen." The inventory, first published by Marten Jan Bok ("Hendrick Jansz. ter Brugghen," in Albert Blankert et al., _Nieuw Licht op de Gouden Eeuw; Hendrick ter Brugghen en tijdgenoten_, exh. cat., Centraal Museum, Utrecht; Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Braunschweig, 1986-1987: 71), is in the Gemeentearchief Utrecht, Stadsarchief II, inv. no. 3146, 1676. [2] A. von Schneider, _Caravaggio und die Niederländer_, Marburg-Lahn, 1933; 2nd ed., Amsterdam, 1967: 140. [3] Dr. Klemperer was forced to surrender the painting when he left Germany in 1938.
