Dear Ron,
Well it would be nice to be sure about the playing technique but to
be honest I can't see a plectrum in either hand. There is just the
faintest shadow that might be a remnant of plectrum over the first
finger of the left hand lutenist but I wouldn't swear to it. Though
of course both plectrums may have vanished down the restorers' drains
together with the strings!
It's in the National Gallery in London and there's a good close up
facility in their webpage at
https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/piero-della-francesca-the-nativity
So you can see the pentimenti around the hand but realy not much
trace of a plectrum.
Best wishes,
David
At 21:07 +0000 30/4/18, Ron Andrico wrote:
We featured this illustration from the famous Piero della Francesca in
a blog post
[1]https://mignarda.wordpress.com/2016/12/24/saturday-morning-quotes-6-
32-puer-natus-est/
The lack of clarity and crispness in the depiction of strings has
nothing to do with the artist's attention to detail, and such a
suggestion is a discredit to an artist known for his extreme adherence
to symbolism, proportion and symmetry. The painting, like so many
others, was the victim of a very poor cleaning and/or restoration.
An interesting point is that in this circa 1475 painting, one of the
lutenists is playing with a plectrum and the other with the fingertips.
RA
__________________________________________________________________
From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf
of Tristan von Neumann <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 30, 2018 4:45 PM
To: lutelist Net
Subject: [LUTE] another lute nativity - 6 courses in 1475?
This nativity has two very big lutes in it. Also, it seems the right
lute has 11 pegs. Maybe this has been the subject of discussion
already.
Anyway, the lutes seem to have very elaborate 3d roses.
[2]https://www.wga.hu/art/p/piero/3/13nativ3.jpg
[13nativ3.jpg]
To get on or off this list see list information at
[3]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
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References
1.
https://mignarda.wordpress.com/2016/12/24/saturday-morning-quotes-6-32-puer-natus-est/
2. https://www.wga.hu/art/p/piero/3/13nativ3.jpg
3. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
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