Geertgen Tot Sint Jans - Music

Music

In his Glorification of Mary, the figures of Maria with her baby are surrounded by three circles of halo. Within the halo are all sorts of musical instruments. This painting shows some of the oldest pictures of musical instruments known in the Netherlands. The baby Jesus is playing with a pair of bells, and seems to be playing music with an angel in the outermost halo, holding an identical set of bells:

  • Detail of bell-playing angel in lower left.

  • Maria seems to be humming along, as the baby Jesus actively plays music (click 3x for detail view).

  • Image of a medieval Bassoon on the lower right.

Read more about this topic:  Geertgen Tot Sint Jans

Famous quotes containing the word music:

    “As polishing expresses the vein in marble, and grain in wood, so music brings out what of heroic lurks anywhere. The hero is the sole patron of music.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    “Good-by, my book! Like mortal eyes, imagined ones must close some day. Onegin from his knees will rise—but his creator strolls away. And yet the ear cannot right now part with the music and allow the tale to fade; the chords of fate itself continue to vibrate; and no obstruction for the sage exists where I have put The End: the shadows of my world extend beyond the skyline of the page, blue as tomorrow’s morning haze—nor does this terminate the phrase.”
    —Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)

    “We may live without poetry, music and art;
    We may live without conscience, and live without heart;
    We may live without friends; we may live without books;
    But civilized man cannot live without cooks.”
    —Owen Meredith (1831–1891)