In a message dated 1/8/04 4:55:59 AM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> The one that > Vermeer has painted is a flat rose like those you find in Stradivarius and > Koch guitars. It is also golded, something I have seen on harpsichords, > zyther, cimbalum, harp, spinett, but never on a guitar (which doesn't mean > it doesn't exist). I have seen a beautiful gilded rose on a lute by Michael Lowe owned by Anthony Rooley. It is pictured on the cover of his lutesongs of Dowland CD called The English Orpheus. There is always the possibility that Vermeer directly copied a rose from a keyboard and took the artistic freedom to "insert" it to the guitar. The magic of such realistic looking paintings is that they can cunningly fool you into taking everything for granted, almost like photos (such as all this discussion about the woman's right hand position on the guitar). As we all know, even photos can deceive! Sometimes, in fact, artists intentionally "deceive" or play tricks with the viewer by such slight adjustments to reality. Kenneth Be Cleveland, Ohio --
