Musical Trio

The vogue for pictures of musicians and drinkers started in the early 1620s, when both Honthorst and Terbrugghen began to turn out many of them. During the twenties pictures of this type had a direct influence on the genre paintings Hals did in Haarlem, it is to Terbrugghen that Hals probably owes the biggest debt.

None of Hals's half-length genre pictures datable to the twenties bears a firm date. However, this Musical Trio is securely monogrammed and dated by the Haarlem artist Pieter de Grebber. Its debt to Utrecht Caravaggism is unmistakable in the types, gestures, and hidden artificial light source de Grebber used in his painting. It firmly establishes that the innovations made by the Utrecht Caravaggisti found their way to Haarlem as early as 1623. How did they get there so quickly. Perhaps Jacob van Campen (1595-1667) was the conduit. Although Campen secure position in the history of Dutch art rests on his work as an architect, he was also a painter and his early activity as one is part of the story of painting in Utrecht.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 2 minutes): Thomas Weelkes: Madrigal (Springtime Song)