Harpsichord
Artist
Claude Jacquet
(French, active in Paris after 1632)
Date1652
CultureFrench
MediumCarved, painted and gilded wood
ClassificationMusical Instruments
Provenance(Sold Fifth Avenue Auction Rooms, New York, 25-27 April, 1928, lot 274). John Ringling (1866-1936), Sarasota, Florida; bequest in 1936 to the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida.
Credit LineBequest of John Ringling, 1936
Object numberSN1108
This instrument is a rare surviving example of a seventeenthcentury French harpsichord. The open lid reveals a scene of the god Apollo pursuing the nymph Daphne. Daphne prayed for rescue and was turned into a laurel tree as Apollo touched her. When the harpsichord was made, Louis XIV was king of France. Louis used the sun as his emblem, and the sun is associated with Apollo, god of Peace and the Arts. Images and attributes of Apollo appear throughout works of art made for Louis and his court.
On View
On viewLocation
- Museum of Art, Gallery 15
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