Early 16th century/late 15th century—Germany: Master of the Upper Rhine, Two Hunters (fragment of a larger panel). ssee below; public domain.

Early 16th century—Italy: Bernardino Licinio (c. 1489-1565), Portrait of a Cornett Player (see below; public domain).

16th century—Mexico: An anonymous painting in the church of San Esteban in Tizatlan, Tlaxcala, depicts a choir of angel musicians consisting of 3 shawms and a trombone (Starner 110; see detail and full image below; public domain).

1501-1600—The horn existed at this time, typically used for hunting to allow for communication over distances outside. The horn began to be presented at this time in its curved and helical design.

c. 1501—European courts maintained corps of trumpeters used for signal heralding. These ensembles involved up to five-part music but were limited in their harmonic variety due to the construction of the non-chromatic instruments. Players tended to specialize in high or low register, and music with artistic merit for brass was scarce.

1501-1525—South Netherlands: Vanity Sounds the Horn and Ignorance Unleashes the Hounds Overconfidence, Rashness, and Desire (from The Hunt of the Frail Stag). Part of a tapestry series that symbolically represents humanity’s life on earth as a hunt. The human is depicted here as “the fragile stag” at the upper left bounding through the woods, hunted by Desire, Rashness, and Overconfidence. The hunting dogs are set loose by Ignorance, portrayed as an elegantly dressed woman at the bottom center (metmuseum.org; see below, public domain).

1503-1529—Spain: A painting by either Joan Gascó or Gabriel Guardia, sometimes titled God the Father Enthroned and Surrounded by the Celestial Hierarchy, includes what appears to be a trombone-playing angel with a rear-facing instrument (see detail below).

c. 1504-Perpignan, France: Painting on an organ shutter (since relocated to the wall opposite the organ) in the Perpignan Cathedral (Cathedral Basilica of Saint John the Baptist of Perpignan, or Basilique-Cathédrale de Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Perpignan). See below; public domain.

1510-15—Flemish school, detail of trumpeters on horseback, from the Tapestry of David and Bathsheba (see below; public domain).

1511—Germany: Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), The Seven Angels with the Trumpets, from The Apocalypse, Latin Edition (see below; public domain).

1511—England: Trumpeters during Henry VIII’s reign. A black trumpeter, believed to be John Blanke, wears a green turban latticed with yellow—from Westminster Tournament Roll, a visual record of the festivities that celebrated the birth of Henry VIll’s son (see below; public domain).

c. 1514—Augsburg, Germany: A biography of Maximilian includes a woodcut by Hans Burgkmair, captioned “How the young Weisskunig learned to know music and string playing.” The woodcut depicts the young king, surrounded by musicians, music books, and musical instruments, including a trombone (see below image; public domain) (Komma 81; Picker 233).

1526—A series of woodcuts titled The Triumph of Maximilian includes plates featuring an ensemble of trombones, an ensemble of trumpeters and timpanists, and an ensemble of trombones and shawms (Burgkmair, 36-37 and 48-49; see below 2 images, public domain).

c. 1530—Bologna, Italy: The Entry of Pope Clement VII and Emperor Charles V into Bologna on 24 February 1530. The festival book says, “At the end [of the procession were] six Spanish banner-carriers in sixteenth-century dress for the ensigns, certainly handsome men. Just as the emperor entered the square there was such an uproar of trombe de guerra, tamburi, trombe and shawms and artillery that it appeared the world had come to an end. They dismounted at the steps of [the cathedral of] San Petronio and went up to the stage” (Bowles 19). See below; public domain.

c. 1530—Italy: Parmigianino (1503-1540), Study sheet (female figure with hunting horn and dog). See below; public domain.

1541-3—Florence, Italy: Jacopo Pontormo (Italian, 1494–1557), Youth with Recorder [sic] (Galleria degli Uffizi). See below; public domain.

1542—Bruges, Belgium: Flemish school, Chansonnier of Zeghere van Male (see 3 details below; public domain).

1551-1556—Hans Schäufelin, Trionfale per l’imperatore Carlo V. Woodcut on title page. See below; public domain.

1556—France: Francesco Primaticcio, Diane the Huntress, painted at Chateau de Chenonceau, France (see below; public domain).

1559—Brussels, Belgium: Johannes and Lucas van Doutecum, The Band of Musicians from La magnifique et sumptueuse pompe funebre faite aux obseques et funerailles du … empereur Charles Cinquième… en la vile de Bruxelles (see below; public domain).

1564—Sevilla, Spain: At the Seville Cathedral, a bronze medallion by Juan Marín and Bautista Vazquez portrays 2 trombones performing with a cornett, treble shawm, and bombard. The 5 players are all gathered around a single music stand (Kreitner, Minstrels in Spanish Churches; see below; public domain).

1567—Piero da Ricasoli, discussing instrumental virtuosi in Cosimo Bartoli’s Ragionamenti accademici, includes the following 2 trombonists: Bartolomeo, Zaccheria da Bologna, and Lorenzo da Lucca—who “has in his playing a certain grace and lightness, with a manner so pleasing as to make me dumbstruck, beyond which he even handles both a viola and a lute with a marvellous grace” (as quoted by Tim Carter, Music in Late Renaissance 164).

c. 1570—Abraham de Bruyn (Flemish, c. 1539-1587), Polish Trumpeters (see below; public domain).

c. 1570-1577—Germany: Tobias Stimmer (Swiss, 1539–1584), Woman with an alto cornett (see below; public domain).

1570—London, England: Queen Elizabeth attended by Fame (goddess of fame and reputation) sounding the trumpet during a triumphal procession for the queen (see below; public domain).

c. 1575—Germany: Jost Amman (Swiss German, 1539-1591), German Hunter (see below; public domain).

c. 1575— The development of the upper, “clarino,” register by specialist trumpeters—notably Cesare Bendinelli (c.1542–1617)—would lend itself well to the Baroque era, also known as the “Golden Age of the natural trumpet.”

1578—Lugano, Switzerland: Angel playing trombone in Lugano Cathedral, after 1578 (see below; public domain).

1584—Dresden, Germany: A colored engraving by Daniel Bretschneider of a procession shows an angel playing trombone (see below image; public domain) (source: Deutsche Fotothek).

1585—Antwerp, Belgium: Maerten de Vos, Gideon and his Men Ambush the Midianites (see below; public domain).

1596-1633—Milan, Italy: A painting attributed to Giulio Cesare Procaccini, located in a chapel of the Oratory of the Immaculate Conception, formerly chapel of the Congregation of the Presentation, features a cherub playing trombone (source: Catalogo generale dei Beni Culturali). See below; public domain.

1597—Italian composer Giovanni Gabrieli, then the organist at St. Mark’s Cathedral in Venice, composed the earliest known piece to call for specific brass instruments, Sonate pian’forte.

16th-17th century-Southern Germany: An inlaid panel with various fruit woods by an unknown artist depicts a richly-dressed woman playing trombone (see below image; public domain) (Cambi Auction House; cambiaste.com; accessed 10.10.23).