Trombone
Added this painting and heading to the 18th century timeline and to the HubPages article, Trombone History: Cherubs Playing the Trombone.
1704-14—Saalfeld, Germany: Carlo Ludovico Castelli paints a putto playing trombone in Saalfeld’s Schlosskapelle (see below image—click for larger version; public domain).
Here’s a rear-facing trombone from Italy that I just added to the 19th-century timeline (1st half) and will shortly be adding to the HubPages article, Backward Advances: Rear-Facing Trombones throughout History. If visual depictions are any indication at all, rear-facing trombones were surprisingly prominent in the 19th century.
1821—Italy: A depiction of musicians from the Italian grenadiers includes a trombonist with a rear-facing instrument (see facing image; public domain) (Melegari 147).
I added the below entry and picture to the 19th century timeline (1st half) and to the HubPages article, Backward Advances: Rear-Facing Trombones throughout History. Although rear-facing trombones were common during the 19th century (see the many examples in the HubPages article), the one pictured below is a strange version (probably not very literal in its depiction). There’s not even a brace with which to hold the slide!
1807-08—Germany: Christoph and Cornelius Suhr, in their book on military uniforms in Hamburg (Abbildung der uniformen aller in Hamburg), published in the early 1820s, depict musicians from the Dutch military in Hamburg from the years 1807-08. Included is a musician with a somewhat awkwardly-rendered rear-facing trombone (see below image; public domain).
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 recently came across Assumption of the Virgin, the painting from which Musical Angels, a relatively common detail of the Frei Carlos painting, is extracted (see 16th century trombone history timeline).
The full painting (the bottom image, below) can be purchased from Superstock and is helpful because it provides context for the subject matter.
The middle detail can be purchased at AllPosters, among other places.
The closest detail is nice because you can see the small cracks in the paint, an effect that has its own beauty (see this detail of the Mona Lisa). The effect actually has a name: craquelure, or the pattern of cracks that develops as paint ages.
As I mention in an article called How to Hold a Sackbut (yes, quite the silly title), the bell of the angel’s trombone appears to have been retouched, resulting in an unlikely bell flare. If you look closely you can see a hint of what appears to be the original more gradual bell flare under the dark gray-green paint.
Here’s the timeline entry, plus the three views:
c. 1530—Musical Angels, a detail from Assumption of the Virgin by Frei Carlos, a Flemish monk who worked in Portugal, depicts angels playing trombone, shawm, and pipe (or recorder) (see below image; public domain) (Lisbon, National Museum of Ancient Art).
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.
Artist Jim Flora (1914-98) created many famous jazz images, including numerous album covers for Columbia Records in the 1940s and 50s. Below are four terrific trombone images that his estate has graciously allowed me to add to the Trombone History Timeline (20th Century). Each one features a notable trombonist in jazz history (in order, top to bottom: J.J. Johnson, Charlie Green, Kid Ory, and Miff Mole). To purchase an image, or for more information about the artist, visit http://www.jimflora.com. All images are used by permission of www.JimFlora.com and are © The Heirs of James Flora.
Jim Flora, Sweets and J.J. Johnson (1992). Used by permission of www.JimFlora.com, © The Heirs of James Flora.
Jim Flora, Trombone Cholly. Used by permission of www.JimFlora.com, © The Heirs of James Flora.
Jim Flora, Kid Ory album cover (1947). Used by permission of www.JimFlora.com, © The Heirs of James Flora.
Jim Flora, Miff Mole's Cat (1992). Used by permission of www.JimFlora.com, © The Heirs of James Flora.
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.
