The Artist's Family Making Music Together 1728 - 1732

Editor: This is Balthasar Denner's "The Artist's Family Making Music Together," created sometime between 1728 and 1732. Painted in oil, it strikes me as a meticulously crafted snapshot of domesticity, but there's a formality that feels almost staged. What's your read on it? Curator: Staged, yes, but with a wink, perhaps! Denner, oh, he was a master of surfaces, wasn't he? Look at how he renders the silk of those dresses – almost palpable! But beyond the surface, I see a commentary on family, art, and societal expectations. Editor: Societal expectations, how so? Curator: Well, consider the context. This is the Baroque period, shifting towards Rococo, where appearances and decorum were paramount. A family that makes music together is a cultivated, respectable family. The globe hints at education, travel, and a worldly outlook. The book, though lying lonely on the floor, represents artistic achievement. Do you think, perhaps, that they were also "modelling" their affluence? Editor: That's interesting. I hadn't considered the underlying message being tied to wealth. But you are right, these items do create an essence of affluence and that they were “of culture” Curator: What's intriguing, though, is the implied performance. Everyone is looking in a specific direction and frozen in time. What is missing is a true emotion, I wonder did they feel this artificial? Editor: Yeah it really gives a feeling of artificial emotions and they did it for the performance, I can see how everything blends into one. Curator: Precisely! And doesn't that hint at the anxieties and aspirations bubbling beneath the powdered wigs and poised stances of the era? The artificialities in these sorts of pieces, become evermore present and prominent. Editor: Thanks so much for shining the light, I totally now get that piece, and also alludes to hidden cultural elements and hidden feelings.