Tátrai Vilmos szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 90-91.(Budapest, 1999)
NÉMETH, ISTVÁN: Musical Company
83, Pictcr Quast: Musical Company. Budapest, Museum of Fine Arts Hals, also dating from 1621, has, beside several other related motifs, a close analogy of the female figure seated on the right in the Budapest genre painting. 14 We may note here that, in its day and age, such depictions of outdoor merrymaking could also carry decidedly positive connotations. Conversation galante combined with musicmaking, and "picnics", excursions to the outskirts of town, constituted an important part of social life of the early 17 th century, and their beneficial and pleasant aspects, their refreshing effects on body and mind alike are frequently mentioned in contemporary books on manners and in songbooks. 15 While the motif of music fills mostly a supplementary role in the above painting by Dirck Hals, singing and music-playing figures play a leading role in a work in the Museum of Fine Arts by the Amsterdam genre painter Pieter Quast ( 1606-1647), datable to about ten years later. 16 In the foreground of the scene, which is set in an interior, we see a company of four around a table covered with a carpet (fig. 83). On the left sits a young woman in a yellow dress, with a garland of flowers in her hair, and she sings from the sheet music held in her hand. Behind her, on the far side of the table, we see a young man in profile, wearing a broad-rimmed hat. The other female figure seated facing the viewer plays a lute, while on the right, a military officer with a sword by his side, his hat almost completely obscuring his face, is perhaps joining her in song. The man's cloak lies tossed on a chair, behind which on the right side of the picture the 14 Christie's, London, 21 April 1989, No. 32. See also: Frankfurt Städtische Galerie, Inv. no. 825. Kat. Gestüten Wercken, 1946, No. 44. 15 In this connection see: Goodman, E., "Rubens' Conversatic à la Mode: Garden of Leisure, Fashion and Gallantry", The Art Bulletin 64 ( 1982:2) 247-259; Stipriaan, R. van, Leugens en vermaak. Boccaccio s novel/en in de kluchtkultuur van de Nederlandse renaissance, Amsterdam 1996, 29. 16 Oil on panel, 49 x 36.5 cm. Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, Inv. no. 71.20. Formerly Hugó Kilényi collection.
