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The Musicians
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
A man tunes a lute with great concentration, plucking a single string with one hand and turning the tuning peg with the other. Close by, a woman bows a three-stringed rebec--an instrument tuned in fifths like a violin, usually used to play dance music. The costly braiding decorating the man’s coat, and his tight-fitting stockings and pointed wooden sandals suggest the clothing of the courtly class at end of the 15th century. The engraving has been interpreted as depicting marital harmony and longstanding fidelity.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineThe Musicians, 1524. Lucas van Leyden (Netherlandish, 1494–about 1533). Engraving. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland, 1930.530
