# Still-Life with Musical Instruments

[View the canonical artwork record](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/baschenis-evaristo-r2a699e9299a86a/still-life-with-musical-instruments-ra91ba2449df73c>)

## Artwork

- Artist: [BASCHENIS, Evaristo](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/baschenis-evaristo-r2a699e9299a86a>)
- Date: 1651-1700
- Technique: Oil on canvas, 97 x 147 cm

## Commentary

Still-Life with Musical Instruments c. 1650 Oil on canvas, 97 x 147 cm Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan This painting is one of the most successful examples of Baschenis&#39;s lifetime pursuit: the painting of still-lifes of musical instruments. It shows the artist&#39;s unflagging attention to the forms of his subjects, which are geometrical and capricious at the same time. The instruments are studied under a light that reveals their inner poetry but leaves their age-old shape and substance intact. Lovingly selected, these mandolins and horns are seen in terms of a strict construction of shadowed tones, broken only occasionally by a lighter passage. Their arrangement suggests an illusory, unchanging fixity, as if a symphony had been transposed from sound into three-dimensional composition, after the music had stopped. The instruments represented are a clarinet, a mandolin, a double-bass bow and - on the crest - a recorder. &lt;P&gt; &lt;TABLE ALIGN=LEFT CELLPADDING=5 BORDER=1 WIDTH=320 BGCOLOR=&#34;\#99CCCC&#34;&gt; &lt;TR VALIGN=MIDDLE&gt;&lt;TD&gt;&lt;IMG SRC=&#34;/support/gif/listen.gif&#34; BORDER=0 VALIGN=MIDDLE&gt; Suggested listening \(streaming mp3, 12 minutes\):&lt;BR&gt;&lt;A HREF=&#34;\#&#34; onClick=&#34;w=window.open \(&#39;/music1/18\_cent/vivaldi\_mandolin\_concerto.html&#39;, &#39;newWin&#39;, &#39;scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=350,height=350&#39;\);w.opener=this;w.focus\(\);return true&#34;&gt;&lt;B&gt;Antonio Vivaldi: Concerto in G major for two mandolins and orchestra, RV 532&lt;/B&gt;&lt;/A&gt; &lt;/TD&gt;&lt;/TR&gt;&lt;/TABLE&gt;

## Related artworks

- [Agliardi Triptych \(central\)](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/baschenis-evaristo-r2a699e9299a86a/agliardi-triptych-central-r5819be89d82ac7>)
- [Agliardi Triptych \(left\)](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/baschenis-evaristo-r2a699e9299a86a/agliardi-triptych-left-re0396373e7d812>)
- [Agliardi Triptych \(right\)](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/baschenis-evaristo-r2a699e9299a86a/agliardi-triptych-right-rbac010123ecd74>)
- [Boy with a Basket of Bread](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/baschenis-evaristo-r2a699e9299a86a/boy-with-a-basket-of-bread-r406c88c7e4f70c>)
- [Kitchen Still-Life](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/baschenis-evaristo-r2a699e9299a86a/kitchen-still-life-r7ba2dcd3c95342>)
- [Musical Instruments](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/baschenis-evaristo-r2a699e9299a86a/musical-instruments-r0213e6c8f04fca>)
- [Still-life with Instruments](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/baschenis-evaristo-r2a699e9299a86a/still-life-with-instruments-r98553688bdfd4b>)
- [Still-Life with Musical Instruments and a Small Classical Statue](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/baschenis-evaristo-r2a699e9299a86a/still-life-with-musical-instruments-and-a-small-classical-statue-r9ebb1627629f3a>)
- [Still-Life with Musical Instruments in an Interior](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/baschenis-evaristo-r2a699e9299a86a/still-life-with-musical-instruments-in-an-interior-r3b3e8438f5f39e>)
- [Still-life with Musical Instruments](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/baschenis-evaristo-r2a699e9299a86a/still-life-with-musical-instruments-r87b5d7a18cd344>)
- [Still-Life with Musical Instruments](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/baschenis-evaristo-r2a699e9299a86a/still-life-with-musical-instruments-rdf68d24321f56c>)

## Attribution

[Web Gallery of Art](<https://beta.wga.hu/pages/about>)