Angels Making Music
c. 1650
Medium
Etching from two plates in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
35 × 51 cm (13 13/16 × 20 1/8 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
135444
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
When creating this ensemble of heavenly musicians, Cornelis Schut I was inspired by the tapestry series depicted in Peter Paul Rubens’s painting The Adoration of the Eucharist (1937.1012). On the left, an angel crowned with a floral wreath plays a lute. A trio of angels accompanies him with a trumpet, horn, and shawm (similar to an oboe). On the right, three angels play a bass violin (a precursor to the cello), a lute, and a violin. Groups of cherubs sing along, sometimes with the aid of songboo...