Doc Rossi wrote: >Yes, but Anne was painted by a much more "serious" painter and was an >Artist herself. >Do you think it could be a Rauche? I was thinking Hintz. >I actually hadn't counted the pegs until DK spotted that it's >actually a waldzither (kidding). Maybe Wright couldn't/didn't >count... I have a photo of a pear-shaped cittern that's in the Haig >which has 8 pegs, strung 2x2 top and the rest single. >You mean the usual 10, don't you? > > > Wright of Derby was a scientifically-minded man, interested in the full range of Enlightenment stuff - maths, physics, industry, technology, music, wealthy clients mainly from early industrial revolution entrepeneurial clients. Anne Ford may have been painted by a more serious painter, but the proportions of Wright's portrait show his typical deadly accuracy. Gainsborough flattered Anne, especially in the length of legs and the more than adult small proportion of head to body. Wright shows a near photographic-accuracy, possibly because he used a draughting machine (probably a camera lucida). Few pictures of this date show as convincing a perspective on a held cittern. The hands are small but again very well positioned and portrayed. The headstock has the four pegs on the correct side for a right-handed player, allowing vital space for the left hand to tackle first position fretting (reversing this arrangement makes it difficult).
We rely on Wright's paintings of scientific experiments to be accurate enough, so his painting of cittern should be assumed to be correct and show 'as was'. Nine strings could be three pairs and three basses, which the neck width would suit, or four pairs and a single bass - or even, just to be awkward, a four-course cittern design with one single course of three strings, usually the 3rd course and including two low and one high octave. I zapped the photo in Photoshop to see whether it hid any critical detail but all I can get from it is two well separate strings at the bass side. The distances look suspiciously like a 4-course with one trebled course. I'm sure this painting will show everything in full detail, as well as any 18th c artist. That is what Wright did, which other painters didn't. He was often criticised for his unflattering accuracy. The paintings in the gallery attached to this look like stuff done for money and not for love, but this lady musician has more of the 'Wright stuff' than the other nouveaux riches clients in their fake landscapes! David To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
