Two More on Paper: Sketches for St. Cecilia Trombone Images
July 13, 2010 by wkimball · Leave a Comment
About a month ago I posted Canvas, Paper, Silver, and Glass: St. Cecilia Trombone Image in Many Forms, tracing the life of an image originally conceived as a painting through several artistic media. Since then I have located two sketches of the image (source: Volk-Knüttel 31-33, pl. 101; for full citation see Trombone History Bibliography). The first drawing, in which it is a little tricky to spot the trombone, is probably a preparatory sketch for the original painting by Pieter de Witte (c. 1585); the second, which has the same dimensions as the engraving by Sadeler (c. 1590), is probably a preparatory drawing for that engraving. In total, we end up with a pretty remarkable count of two sketches, a painting, an engraving, a silver relief, and a painted glass window. And the trombone makes it through to the end!
Preparatory Sketch, Possibly by Pieter de Witte, for St. Cecilia
Preparatory Drawing, Possibly by Sadeler, for St. Cecilia
Canvas, Paper, Silver, and Glass: St. Cecilia Trombone Image in Many Forms
Last week I posted Evolution of a Trombone Painting, which traced a painting through several sketches to fruition in a church fresco. This new post similarly shows several permutations of an image, though in this case, the images span a longer period of time, as they are copied by various artists. They also encompass an impressive range of artistic media, including canvas, paper, silver, and glass. The artist who painted the original image, Pieter de Witte (1548-1628; also known as Pietro Candido), is a Flemish-born artist who was trained in Italy and divided his career between Italy and Germany. For additional examples of trombone images that were copied by multiple artists, see Young Trombonists in Four Montserrat Paintings.
Update: See this subsequent post for two additional versions of the below image, both probably preparatory sketches.
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c. 1585—Munich, Germany: Pieter de Witte, court painter in Munich, paints David Singing God’s Praise, which features trombone among a mixed consort of angel-musicians. The upper half of the painting, show below, is meant to depict Saint Cecilia and angels. The lower half, not shown, depicts angels performing with David (Haarlem, Frans Hals Museum, photo A. Dingjan; Pieter Fischer 22; Bergquist xvii) (public domain image).
c. 1590—Munich, Germany: Johann Sadeler (Jan Sadeleer), court engraver in Munich, makes an engraving after Pieter de Witte’s painting that accompanies a setting of Psalm 150, Laudent Deum Cithara, by Orlando Lassus (see below image; public domain) (Mirimonde 67; Bergquist xvii).
A silver relief by Christoph Lencker is also modeled after the original Pieter de Witte painting (see below image; public domain) (Pieter Fischer 23).
And finally, a painted glass window in St. Helen’s church, Denton, England follows the same image. It is dated 1700 and signed by Giles of York (see below detail; public domain) (photo by Gordon Plumb):