The Musicians, Theodoor Rombouts

Episode 1. I’m David Cateforis with another Art Minute from the Spencer Museum of Art. A highlight of the Spencer’s collection of Northern Baroque art is a large painting from around 1620 by the Flemish artist Theodor Rombouts. It vividly depicts a male musician and female singer who seem to invite us to join their performance. Are these lavishly dressed characters members of a theatrical troupe? At the musicians’ feet, a lute and music books lie on the ledge and extend illusionistically into our space. The painting seems to ask: Shall you pick up the inviting lute? Shall you catch the music book that threatens to fall off the ledge? As you come even closer, you notice that one lute string has broken and curls upward in a sinuous line. With this discovery, you stop short and wonder whether you should, in fact, join in with the music making. Or should you pull back and ponder - by virtue of the symbolism of the broken string - that the pleasures of this world, such as music making, are fleeting in contrast with eternal spiritual truths? The moral dilemma is posed and poised forever in Rombouts’s engaging painting. With thanks to Linda Stone-Ferrier for her text, from the Spencer Museum of Art, I’m David Cateforis.

The Two Musicians seems to be another hackneyed European painting, just two people singing on a stage with traditional looking paint style. Funky feather hat, two singers, a broken lute… seems to be the same as every other piece in this part of the museum. But stop. Take the time to look into the feeling of this piece. What was Rombouts trying to say through this? Why is the man dressed up in fancy and crazy clothes while the woman is in a simple dress? Why is the man so dramatic and acting air-headed when expressing this song when she is meaningfully singing? Are they in any special relationship other than a duet? Theodore Rombouts lived in Antwerp, Belgium from 1597 to 1637. He created this masterful oil painting around the time of 1616 to 1625, the same time when he was actually the student under Italian caravaggesque painter, Abraham Janssens. The technique of caravaggesque was a beautiful mélange of chiaroscuro (dark and light contrast) and unbalanced characters (as opposed to Classicism). Rombouts later fell under the Ruben influence, changing his style to a lighter tone rather than an ominous feeling. This massive thought-provoking piece lured me in with the bright feathers on the man’s crazy hat. But as I searched more, I noticed the many symbolic and historical parts that this painting is showing. You may notice that the woman is wearing a cloth around her head. In the 1600 time period, women would wear a linen cloth around their head to represent marriage. Could the woman be married to the man she is performing with? And why would a woman be performing with a man? Women were not allowed to perform on stage in the 17th century. Could this cause her to be a social outcast? And would that explain why the man is looking away from her? The broken lute at the bottom of the piece might be representing relationship troubles. Maybe the duet was a couple but they were suffering marriage difficulties; noting that divorce was not common in that time period, perhaps that is why she hasn’t taken off the hat. The Two Musicians seems very similar to an engraving of Rombouts and his wife created by Schelte Adams Bolswert. Rombouts is wearing fancy clothes (and a feather hat) and his wife is dressed simply. There is a lute on the desk at which they are sitting at and it is indeed broken. He is also turned away from his wife in a cold shoulder way. Could Rombouts’ painting be a depiction of what was happening in his marriage? Did he not love his wife anymore? Did he ever love his wife? I believe Theodore Rombouts was expressing his distress. Perhaps he knew how sad his wife was in the marriage and decided to show so in the woman’s eyes. She looks troubled and sad, maybe because she has come to realize the great hamartia in their tragic relationship. I feel a great sense of anger at the man depicted in the painting, for acting so frigorific by turning away from his “wife”. I bet the woman would have wished to be free of him. Living in the 21st century gives me a sense of being safe, knowing that if there is unhappiness, I am not grounded. I hope the story of the man and woman doesn’t end in the despair that is depicted. I hope the woman is set free and is disaffected by the social scorn she would receive for a divorce. I hope she was then happy. What do you think?