# A Merry Group behind a Balustrade [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [HONTHORST, Gerrit van]() - Date: 1601-1650 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 99 x 139 cm ## Commentary Honthorst has posed two boisterous musicians in flamboyant attire behind a ledge. Looking out beyond the frame, the male violinist bows his instrument with great vigour while singing. His smiling female companion accompanies him on the lute. Directly behind this engaging couple, an adolescent boy lifts his roemer of wine on high, as if to toast their efforts. The setting of the scene can be identified as a brothel. Honthorst based the theme of the painting, the theatrical headgear, and the strongly-lit, half-length figures on works by Caravaggio, who had many followers in the Netherlands. ## Related artworks - [A Merry Group behind a Balustrade \(detail\)]() - [Adoration of the Child]() - [Adoration of the Shepherds]() - [Childhood of Christ]() - [Christ before the High Priest \(detail\)]() - [Christ before the High Priest]() - [Concert on a Balcony]() - [Convival Fellow]() - [Frederick Hendrick, Prince of Orange, with His Wife Amalia van Solms and Their Three Youngest Daughters]() - [Granida and Daifilo]() - [Lute Player]() - [Margareta Maria de Roodere and Her Parents]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()