# The Concert [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [HONTHORST, Gerrit van]() - Date: 1601-1650 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 168 x 202 cm ## Commentary This representation of a concert of music by the Flemish artist who was known in Italy as Gherardo delle Notti, has a moralizing message. Music, in fact, is a high and virtuous art, but also a fleeting one, leading to its association with vanity, symbolized by the old woman who, indicating her now toothless mouth, admonishes the young couple, singing to the accompaniment of a bass viol. There are further nuances to the significance of the image, if the work is to be identified with the painting entitled The Theft of the Amulet, owned by the painter's family and then sold by auction in Amsterdam in 1770 before entering the Borghese collection. In this case the subject should be recognized as a deception of the young man who, intent on his singing, does not realize that the girl is stealing his earring with the complicity of the old woman, ready to slip it into her bag, and of the musician in the foreground. <P> <TABLE ALIGN=LEFT CELLPADDING=5 BORDER=1 WIDTH=320 BGCOLOR="\#99CCCC"> <TR VALIGN=MIDDLE><TD><IMG SRC="/support/gif/listen.gif" BORDER=0 VALIGN=MIDDLE> Suggested listening \(streaming mp3, 10 minutes\):<BR><A HREF="\#" onClick="w=window.open \('/music1/17\_cent/monteverdi\_madrigal.html', 'newWin', 'scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=350,height=350'\);w.opener=this;w.focus\(\);return true"><B>Claudio Monteverdi: Charming Angioletta, madrigal</B></A> </TD></TR></TABLE> ## Related artworks - [A Merry Group behind a Balustrade \(detail\)]() - [A Merry Group behind a Balustrade]() - [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]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()