I was recently doing some research on a different topic (for a History of Civilization course I’ll be teaching during a Vienna Study Abroad program), when I came across this gem. It’s one of many depictions of trombone-playing muses. Although it’s…
trombone iconography
Trombonist in 16C Feast of Herod Painting
The feast of Herod, featuring the beheading of John the Baptist, is a relatively popular subject in religious art, including a sculpture by Donatello and a painting by Rubens, among others. The depictions can get fairly gory! The example below,…
The Valve Trombone in Iconography
A friend of mine, Ken Shifrin, recently emailed me with a historical question about valve trombone images. As a result, I put this little collection together. I have a few others I will be posting as I get more complete…
Trombone Bell Found: An Early Rear-Facing Trombone
A few years ago a made a blog post on “Bell-less Trombones.” As you can see if you read the comments to that post, some of the bells were actually found by an alert reader. However, one image that continued…
Trombone-Playing Monk
Just added this one to the 19th century timeline (2nd half): 1900—An image by Cederström (probably Ture Nikolaus Cederström, 1843-1924) entitled Concert in the Monastery is reproduced in Elson’s 2nd volume of Famous Composers and their Works. Among the octet of monk-musicians…
Another Italian Angel-Trombonist
A few days ago I mentioned in this blog an angel-trombone painting by Procaccini. Well, that one led to another image by the same artist (as these things often do). Here it is, along with its caption, below. You can…
Another Rear-Facing (Over-the-Shoulder) Trombone
I just added the below caption and picture of a rear-facing (or “over-the-shoulder”) trombone to the Trombone History Timeline (19th century, first half). I have also added it to the HubPages article, Backward Advances: Rear-Facing Trombones throughout History, which features…
St. Cecilia, Two Heads on a Platter, and Cherub with Trombone
St. Cecilia is the patron saint of music, so the organ and cherub (putto) with trombone reflect that symbolism. Why Cecilia has the heads of Valeriano and Tiburtio on a platter is beyond me, but it’s too bad they didn’t…
Two 19th Century Trombone Paintings by Benjamin Vautier
Below is a pair of images by Swiss artist Benjamin Vautier that I just added to the Trombone History Timeline (19th century, 2nd half). The first one in particular, which depicts a wedding in a region of France, is quite…
Trombone in Dutch House Concert
I recently added the below caption and image to the Trombone History Timeline (19th Century—first half). I have run into numerous similar images along the way, but it’s rare to find one that includes a trombonist. c. 1840—Holland: A…