c. 1610—Loreto, Italy: Artist Cristoforo Roncalli, known as “Pomarancio,” makes a set of preparatory red chalk drawings for a fresco to be painted on the cupola of the Basilica di Loreto (fresco now largely lost). Among the drawings is an angel-trombonist (see below image; public domain).

__________

c. 1545—Italy: Giorgio Vasari paints a fresco of a quintet of wind musicians, 4 cornetts and a trombone, playing from a window or balcony. The player’s grip of the trombone is somewhat unorthodox and the player is also holding the instrument left-handed. The bell is partially obscured by the player’s head (see below image; public domain) (source: wikimedia commons; Stewart Gardner Museum).

1535—Florence, Italy: According to Giorgio Vasari, Florentine artist and historian, at the ceremony for the installation of the garrison of a fortress in Florence, “The very earth seemed pleased with the Gloria that I heard intoned by the Most Reverend Bishop, who was answered by a multitude of trombones, cornetti, and voices, so that one inclined one’s head owing to the sweetness as when one grows sleepy around the fire. At the conclusion of the oration, the Veni, Sancte Spiritus was begun by harmonies of trombones…” (Cummings 148-49).

1566—Giorgio Vasari’s image of a muse holding an instrument features what Edmund Bowles labels an alto trombone. If it is indeed a trombone, it is a somewhat awkwardly-rendered depiction. The image is associated with a performance of The Genealogy of the Gods for the wedding festivities of Prince Francesco de’ Medici and Johanna of Austria (see below image from festival book; public domain) (Bowles, Musical Ensembles 55).

1838—L’Enragé Musicien, a lithograph by Bourdin after an image by Robert William Buss, depicts a trombone player practicing in the middle of the night (the clock shows 2:30), with neighbors protesting and a scowling portrait of Handel looking on. The trombonist plays on an instrument with a slide extension handle (see below image; public domain) (Goodfriend, Prints and Drawings of Musical Interest).

c. 1530—Augsburg, Germany: Hans Burgkmair (or his circle) paints a pair of images, Concert of Sacred Music and Concert of Secular Music, on wood panels. Concert of Sacred Music includes trombone and cornetto players performing with a group of singers in front of a large music stand (see below image; public domain).

c. 1670—Italy: Bartolomeo Bettera’s Still Life with Musical Instruments includes a trombone in the center of the image (see below image; public domain).

1652-55—Preonzo, Switzerland: A fresco in the ceiling of Chiesa Santi Simone e Giuda features a number of angel-musicians, including a trombonist (see detail and full image below; public domain image).

c. 1600—Germany: An image depicting a quintet of civic wind players (Stadtpfeifer) includes what may be a serpent (see far right of below image; public domain) (Nuremberg, German National Museum).

1607—Dresden, Germany: A depiction of a portion of a procession features 3 cornetts and what may be a serpent (see below image; public domain) (Dresden, Sachsische Landesbibliothek).

1591—Dresden, Germany: A group of elaborately-costumed musicians, documented by artist Daniel Bretschneider, includes a trombonist. The group is part of a larger procession celebrating the baptism of the daughter of Elector Christian I, Dorothea (see below image—click picture for larger version; public domain) (Dresden, Sächsische Landesbibliothek).

1614—Dresden, Germany: An image documenting a procession in honor of the baptism of Duke August depicts two trombones and a cornetto, followed by a person dressed as Mercury (see below image; public domain) (Dresden Staatsarchiv).