1600s

An artist of the Flemish school paints a secular version of a very popular St. Cecilia painting (see Paper, Canvas, Silver, Wood, and Glass: St. Cecilia Trombone Image in Many Forms). Here the musicians are spread out, wings removed, with secular clothing rather than robes. Note the similarity of instruments played, sequence of instruments (though the trombone is switched with the gamba and placed on the far right), inclusion of people holding music, and placement of the organist in the middle (St. Cecilia in the original painting). The extra stay on the trombone slide is retained from the original. The ribbon flowing from the organist’s hair, present in many other versions of the painting, is also clear here. It is worthwhile to note that the original artist, Pieter de Witte, was of Flemish descent, and four other images among these copies are by Flemish artists (see below image; public domain; courtesy of Tassos Dimitriadis).