Artwork
Concert
Concert is an oil painting by the Dutch Golden Age artist Jacob van Loo. It dates from 1650 and is held in the collection of the Hermitage Museum.
About this work
Overview
Created around 1650 by Dutch painter Jacob van Loo, *Concert* is an oil on canvas that depicts a small gathering of musicians and listeners in an interior space opened to a bright sky. The composition centers on a lute player and a woman in a yellow dress, surrounded by two additional figures, all arranged beneath tall arched windows that lend the room an airy quality.
Subject & Meaning
The presence of a book, a hat and relaxed postures convey leisure and cultured refinement, hinting at the social function of music as genteel entertainment.
The scene presents a domestic music-making episode, a popular genre motif in the mid‑seventeenth‑century Netherlands. A woman leans over a wooden table while the lute’s strings are poised under the player’s fingers, suggesting a moment of suspended sound. The presence of a book, a hat and relaxed postures convey leisure and cultured refinement, hinting at the social function of music as genteel entertainment.
Technique & Style
Van Loo employs a balanced chiaroscuro, allowing the warm, dim glow of the interior to contrast with the luminous sky visible through the arches. The checkered floor and subtle modeling of drapery demonstrate his refined handling of texture. Figures are rendered with smooth, almost idealized flesh tones, while the lute’s details capture the tactile quality of wood and strings, reflecting the artist’s skill in rendering both materiality and atmosphere.
History & Provenance
After its execution in Amsterdam, the painting entered various private collections before being acquired by the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, where it remains on display. Its attribution to van Loo aligns with his known oeuvre of conversational groupings and genre scenes, confirming its place within the Dutch Golden Age tradition that later influenced his work in Paris.
Artist & collection
Artist
Jacob van Loo (1614 – 26 November 1670) was a painter of the Dutch Golden Age, chiefly active in Amsterdam and, after 1660, in Paris.
