Dear Jaroslaw, That's fascinating, I'd never looked for a high res image and had never noticed.
I'm sure you're right that the coloured strings imply octave stringing, rare up as far as the 3rd course though it is. The empty nut grooves for 2 top strings are a bit more of a puzzle because the current top string goes to the extreme end of the bridge, so either the neck never was on at the right angle (unlikely for an instrument belonging to such a rich well-connected lady, and anyway why then the empty grooves) or she has spread the bridge courses as well as removed one or two top courses. It's ended up as an 11 course instrument and there is a fair amount of 11 course music intended for liuto attiorbato, and the double diapason courses are also a liuto attiorbato feature rather than an Italian theorbo feature, and imply a relatively short grand jeu. But that's rather early for this date and anyway the wrong country. Maybe it's a Baron style tuning for continuo of D min but omitting the top course, which wouldn't necessarily require tuning the whole instrument lower. All very intriguing! Also notice she is using a ribbon strap in a slightly "modern" round the shoulder style but going to a button on the neckblock rather than to the extension. Most of those neckblock buttons on surviving lutes are too small to function in this way and we normally assume they implied a tight gut cord between the buttons which was hooked onto a clothing button. This looks more like the style of ribbon/strap used in the Watteau painting of a similar period http://tinyurl.com/d95ag2a This usage implies that the main stability was created by a constant pressure forwards with the left-hand thumb. Maybe the French comparison of playing style and fashionable clothing might suggest that she is simply playing 11 course French music? Best wishes, David At 21:12 +0200 19/7/12, =?iso-8859-2?Q?Jaros^3aw_Lipski?wrote: The portrait of Eleonore von Schlieben-Sanditten is quite well known, I wonder however if anyone examined some details of her lute. There are two interesting details that are easily visible in closer magnification. 1/ There are 2 free grooves of the nut on the treble side 2/ Beginning from the 3rd course every string within a course on the bass side is red (octave tuning?). I just wonder if she got rid of chantarelles and tuned down all instrument to set it for continuo playing? Any ideas? JL To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- The Smokehouse, 6 Whitwell Road, Norwich, NR1 4HB England. Telephone: + 44 (0)1603 629899 Website: http://www.vanedwards.co.uk --
