Trombone
Added the below entry and picture to the Trombone History Timeline (18th century) and to an old blog post titled Perching on the Pipes: Trombone & Organ Images. What a beautiful instrument—and two trombones to top it off!
1740—Coburg, Germany: A Schuke organ is installed in St. Moriz Church. Atop the pipes are two angel-trombonists (see below image; public domain).
Today I added another image to the Trombone History Timeline (17th century, first half)—yet another angel-trombonist. I’ll also be adding it to the HubPages article, Angel-Trombonists Throughout History. Below is the drawing, along with the timeline caption. The artist is actually known primarily for his work as an early art historian. The image looks like it could be a preparatory drawing for a fresco, although I haven’t had any luck tracking down a related painting.
c. 1650—German artist Joachim von Sandrart draws a red chalk “angel concert” that includes a trombone (see below image; public domain) (source: Deutsche Fotothek).
I recently added the top painting shown below, Hendrick de Clerck’s Minerva and the Muses, to the 17th century timeline (1st half).
The timeline now features nine Belgian (or Flemish, if you prefer) paintings within the short span of approximately 30 years (c. 1610-c. 1640) that include trombone. They are similar in several respects. Several of the artists, most notably Rubens and Breughel, are well known in art history. With the exception of Alsloot’s Procession (1615-16), which documents a literal event, nearly all of the paintings incorporate overt symbolism in the form of mythology and/or allegory. In terms of the trombone, one of the most striking things is that, while the paintings all include depictions of the instrument, none of them except the Procession show the trombone actually being played. The instrument is obviously being used as a symbol.
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c. 1610—Belgium: Hendrick de Clerck’s painting, Minerva and the Muses, includes a trombone resting on some foliage in the foreground of the painting (see bottom-left of below image; click for larger image; public domain).
c. 1610—Antwerp, Belgium: Hendrick van Balen’s painting, The Banquet of the Gods, includes a trombone resting on the ground among several other instruments (see bottom right of below detail; public domain image).
c. 1615—Antwerp, Belgium: Hendrick van Balen’s painting, Minerva among the Muses, on the cover of a virginal belonging to Queen Maria Kazimiera Sobieski, features a trombone among several instruments resting on the ground. The trombone is somewhat unusual because of the double loop of tubing on the back of the instrument, similar to the one portrayed by Brueghel and Rubens in Allegory of Hearing (1617-18). Queen Maria, originally from Poland, marries King James Stuart and spends most of her life in Rome. Hendrick van Balen, the artist, is a mannerist from the Antwerp School (see below image) (source: wikimedia commons).
1615-16—Brussels, Belgium: Archduchess Isabella visits Brussels and subsequently commissions several paintings to portray the related celebrations. Denis van Alsloot, painter for the archdukes of Brussels, depicts a “procession of guilds.” The “loud” instruments pictured, which include a trombone, cornett, curtal, and 3 shawms, presumably constitute the civic wind band of Brussels. They occupy a place of honor between the relics and the statue (Denis van Alsloot, Procession en l’honneur de Notre-Dame du Sablon a Bruxelles le 31 mai,Museo Prado, Madrid) (see below detail—click for larger image; Lesure 94-95; Forney, Antwerp 363; Whitwell, Baroque 181; Wangermée, vol. 1 241; ). Public domain image.
c. 1617—Antwerp, Belgium: Hendrick van Balen and Jan Brueghel collaborate on a painting called An Allegory of the Five Senses, which includes a trombone among several instruments in the foreground (see below detail; public domain) (Haeften, pl. 8). For other depictions of the trombone by the same painter, see c. 1610 (Banquet of the Gods), c. 1615 (Minerva among the Muses), and c. 1625 (Allegory of Music).
1617-1618—Antwerp, Belgium: Jan Brueghel the Elder and Peter Paul Rubens collaborate on a series of paintings on the subject of the 5 senses. The Sense of Hearing or Allegory of Hearing depicts a trombone among the many instruments in the room. All of the paintings in the series are “portrayed against a backdrop of princely collections that together seem to paint an idealized picture of the court of the Habsburg rulers of the Southern Netherlands, the archdukes Albert and Isabella, whose castles in and near Brussels are depicted in the distance” (see below detail; public domain) (Woollett, 91-92; Museo del Prado, Madrid).
c. 1625—Belgium: A painting attributed to Jan van Kessel, Hendrik van Balen, and Jan Brueghel titled Allegory of Music features depictions of numerous instruments, including trombone (see below detail; public domain) (Wangermée vol. I, 292; Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Musée municipal).
1625-1630—Belgium: The Royal Palace at Brussels, a painting attributed to Sebastian Vranckx and Jan Brueghel the Younger, includes a depiction of a trombone. The trombone rests on the ground, along with a dulcian, near an ensemble of 2 voices and 3 strings that is informally performing outdoors (see below image; public domain) (Kenyon de Pascual, Two Contributions).
c. 1640—Antwerp, Belgium: Jan van Kessel’s Allegory of Hearing depicts a room with numerous instruments, including a trombone leaning against a stool (see below detail; public domain). The image is similar to a painting on which the artist collaborated with Hendrik van Balen and Jan Brueghel (see c. 1625, above).
I just added the upper image and entry to the 17th Century Timeline (1st half). It is noteworthy for a couple of reasons. 1) Although there are numerous frescoes that feature the trombone (for starters, browse the Trombone History Timeline), very few of them include this many depictions of the instrument. 2) Kloster Nonnberg (or Nonnberg Convent), the convent that houses this painting, is actually the Salzburg convent featured in the motion picture, “The Sound of Music.” Coincidentally, there is an additional trombone tie-in with “The Sound of Music”: the lower image below, a panel painting in the Mondsee, Austria parish church where, centuries later, the wedding scene in “The Sound of Music” is filmed, also depicts an angel playing trombone (c. 1682). In fact, the depiction of the angel-trombonist in the Mondsee church bears a resemblance to the two outer trombonists in the convent.
Nonnberg Convent fresco:
1625—Salzburg, Austria: A fresco by Matthäus Ostendorfer located in the Nonnenchor of Kloster Nonnberg (or Nonnberg Convent) features three angel-trombonists (see below image; public domain).
Mondsee church painting:
c. 1682—Mondsee, Austria: A panel painting in the Mondsee, Austria parish church (where, centuries later, the wedding scene in the motion picture “The Sound of Music” is filmed) depicts an angel playing trombone in the middle-bottom of the image (see below image) (Salmen, Bilder 57).
I just added two more festival book images to the 17th century timeline (1st half). They could really be included in the previous century, since they are documenting an event from 1596, but I included them in the 17th because that’s when the record was actually published. I had the first of the three below images in the timeline already; the bottom two are new. I’ve included the timeline caption here as well:
1601—Wolfenbüttel, Germany: A festival book for Landgrave Moritz of Hesse-Kassel documenting the 1596 celebrations in honor of the baptism his daughter, Elizabeth, includes at least three different images (by artist Wilhelm Dilich) of trombones in musical ensembles walking in procession (see below images; public domain) (Dilich 00135). The bottom image is somewhat unusual for its inclusion of two trombones in such a small ensemble.
Just over a year ago I compiled a set of numerous images from the Trombone History Timeline of angels playing trombones atop organ pipes. You can see that post here. One of the common factors of those depictions is that they are all from Germany. I have just added another trombone and organ picture, but this one is from Prague, Czech Republic. The caption and photograph are below. You can see it in the broader context of trombone history in the 18th century timeline.
1746—Prague, Czech Republic: An organ by Tomas Schwarz is completed and installed in St. Nicholas Cathedral. Atop the pipes of the organ are numerous angels playing musical instruments, including trombones (see below image).
The faintest hint of a trombone (not a phrase you often hear) can be seen in the below painting I just added to the 17th century timeline (2nd half). A barely-visible angel playing trombone is found in the middle of the below detail, just below center. Possibly by Antonio Palomino, the wall painting is located at Oficio de San Nicolas in the Convento de San Esteban in Salamanca, Spain. The photo is from this page on dulcian iconography.
Earlier today I added a second image of Polyhymnia, muse of sacred poetry and hymns, to the 16th century timeline. The new one, shown below on the right, is an anonymous image held in the Louvre, but it is almost an exact mirror image (minus the wings and a few details) of the engraving by Franz Brun shown below on the left. The two pictures make a striking little pair!
c. 1570—An engraving by Franz Ignaz Brun from the Nine Muses series features an angel-musician playing trombone (see left image; public domain) (British Museum). Another image, also representing Polyhymnia, is nearly a mirror image (without the wings), and is probably either a preparatory sketch or a copy of Brun’s (see right image; public domain) (Louvre, INV 18676.6).
I just added the lower caption and image to the 17th century timeline (1st half). In several details—the posture and dress of the player, the style of the chair, and the rendering of the trombone—it bears a strong resemblance to this Bracelli print of c. 1630 (see first image, below), also found in the timeline; my guess is that they’re either by the same artist, or one is a copy of the other.
First, the Bracelli etching, c. 1630:
Now, the new image with its timeline caption:
c. 1634—A print, possibly by French artist Jacques Callot, shows a solitary trombonist casually playing while sitting cross-legged on a chair (see below image; public domain):
A couple of months ago I posted an article on HubPages called Backward Advances: Rear-Facing Trombones Throughout History. It features 29 different images from 7 different countries. Three of the most interesting examples are pre-19th century. In a similar vein, I came across this painting attributed to Luca Giordano (1634-1705), an Italian artist from the late Baroque. I’m working on finding a better reproduction, but it would appear that the brass player in the center-left could be playing a rear-facing trombone as part of a basso continuo to accompany a group of singers.