music - lesson

This music lesson from around 1625 appears to be among Stom’s earliest known works, possibly painted before his departure from the Netherlands for Italy. Musical instruction scenes were a staple of Dutch genre painting, from Vermeer to ter Borch, and Stom’s candlelit version bridges Northern genre tradition with the Italian Caravaggist style he would soon fully embrace. The painting was documented at the Munich Central Collecting Point after World War II.

Candlelight falls on the sheet music and the players’ hands, creating a concentrated zone of activity within the larger darkness. The handling suggests an early work, with slightly stiffer brushwork than Stom’s mature paintings.