# Venus Playing the Harp \(Allegory of Music\) [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [LANFRANCO, Giovanni]() - Date: 1601-1650 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 214 x 150 cm ## Commentary The painting was executed for the Marco Marazzuoli, a virtuoso musician who played the harp and also composed for the instrument. Known also as "Marco dell'Arpa" \("Marco of the Harp"\), he was part of the extensive Barberini entourage of musicians. Marazzuoli was the friend and fellow countryman of Lanfranco, and Passeri links the fact that Lanfranco's daughter sang and played the harp to Marazzuoli's influence. In his will, the harpist bequeathed this painting to Cardinal Antonio Barberini, who had a keen interest in music. The connections between the papal family and the musicians and composers of the moment were fundamental. In the particular cultural climate of the Barberini circle, thematic comparisons were often drawn between the arts; for example between the iconography of paintings and the themes of operas. One can also connect the painting to the current of representation, in the various arts, of the 'affetti' and of amorous sentiment. The work is datable to the years between 1630 and Lanfranco's move to Naples in 1634. The elaborate harp depicted is based on an actual instrument: previously in the Barberini collection it can now be seen in Rome's Musical Instruments Museum \(Museo degli Strumenti Musicali\). <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 \(streaming mp3, 14 minutes\):<BR><A HREF="\#" onClick="w=window.open \('/music1/18\_cent/handel\_theorbo.html', 'newWin', 'scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=350,height=350'\);w.opener=this;w.focus\(\);return true"><B>George Frideric Handel: Concerto for harp, lute and theorbo in B flat major</B></A> </TD></TR></TABLE> ## Related artworks - [Angelica and Medoro]() - [Christ Ascending]() - [Christ Served by Angels]() - [Coronation of the Virgin with St Augustine and St William of Aquitaine]() - [Crossing cupola paintings]() - [Crucifixion \(detail\)]() - [Crucifixion]() - [Cupola vault \(detail\)]() - [Cupola vault]() - [Design for vault frescoes]() - [Ecstasy of St Margaret of Cortona]() - [Hagar in the Wilderness]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()