# Violon Player

[View the canonical artwork record](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/dou-gerrit-r72bd34c77e9f76/violon-player-rb358428444a44e>)

## Artwork

- Artist: [DOU, Gerrit](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/dou-gerrit-r72bd34c77e9f76>)
- Date: 1651-1700
- Technique: Oil on panel, 32 x 20 cm

## Commentary

This painting provides an example of Dou&#39;s use of a niche format in which an arched top enhances the illusion by eliminating what are normally the empty upper corners of a picture. A man, likely identifiable as a painter because of his beret, peers at a birdcage while playing the violin in a stone enclosure. He leans against a sumptuous Turkish carpet draped over a magnificent stone relief of putti playing with a goat. This relief, which Dou used repeatedly in his niche paintings, is &lt;A onclick=&#34;return OpenOther\(&#39;/html/d/duquesno/francois/bacchana.html&#39;\)&#34; HREF=&#34;/html/d/duquesno/francois/bacchana.html&#34;&gt;based on a frieze&lt;/A&gt; by the renowned Flemish sculptor François Duquesnoy, plaster copies of which were known in Leiden at this time. In the background another man smokes a pipe while still another grinds pigment before an easel. In light of this background scene the subject of this panel can probably be identified as that of an artist playing a musical instrument in his studio, a subject encountered in other genre paintings \(and in artists&#39; self-portraits\). Generally speaking it illustrates music&#39;s ability to stimulate creativity. &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 \(streaming mp3, 15 minutes\):&lt;BR&gt;&lt;A HREF=&#34;\#&#34; onClick=&#34;w=window.open \(&#39;/music1/18\_cent/tartini\_concerto.html&#39;, &#39;newWin&#39;, &#39;scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=350,height=350&#39;\);w.opener=this;w.focus\(\);return true&#34;&gt;&lt;B&gt;Giuseppe Tartini: Violin concerto in A Major&lt;/B&gt;&lt;/A&gt; &lt;/TD&gt;&lt;/TR&gt;&lt;/TABLE&gt;

## Related artworks

- [A Fisherman&#39;s Wife](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/dou-gerrit-r72bd34c77e9f76/a-fishermans-wife-ra98d55011f80af>)
- [A Soldier of the Leiden Civic Guard with an Arms Still-Life \(detail\)](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/dou-gerrit-r72bd34c77e9f76/a-soldier-of-the-leiden-civic-guard-with-an-arms-still-life-detail-re948f67f418c06>)
- [A Soldier of the Leiden Civic Guard with an Arms Still-Life](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/dou-gerrit-r72bd34c77e9f76/a-soldier-of-the-leiden-civic-guard-with-an-arms-still-life-r0c99f47542a481>)
- [An Evening School](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/dou-gerrit-r72bd34c77e9f76/an-evening-school-r3cddda28b3fbc9>)
- [Astronomer](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/dou-gerrit-r72bd34c77e9f76/astronomer-r755e2ff56887fb>)
- [Astronomer](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/dou-gerrit-r72bd34c77e9f76/astronomer-rfefef3bc2c2be2>)
- [Cardplayers at Candlelight](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/dou-gerrit-r72bd34c77e9f76/cardplayers-at-candlelight-r84c556c352d834>)
- [Girl at a Window](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/dou-gerrit-r72bd34c77e9f76/girl-at-a-window-ra109fa460f18f0>)
- [Girl with Burning Oil Lamp](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/dou-gerrit-r72bd34c77e9f76/girl-with-burning-oil-lamp-rd9540e9e072c84>)
- [Old Woman Praying](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/dou-gerrit-r72bd34c77e9f76/old-woman-praying-rad436fcd9dcdd0>)
- [Old Woman Reading a Bible \(detail\)](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/dou-gerrit-r72bd34c77e9f76/old-woman-reading-a-bible-detail-r766b9ec4be6bdd>)
- [Old Woman Reading a Bible](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/dou-gerrit-r72bd34c77e9f76/old-woman-reading-a-bible-r3b245462615fc1>)

## Attribution

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