Canard
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This morning, The Guardian had an article on an upcoming exhibition of Vermeer paintings, which includes The Guitar Player, c1672.
From a guitarist's point of view there is something wrong with the picture. The guitar is an eight string/four course [edit: correction by geoguy ... a ten string/five course] instrument, yet it does not seem that there are enough strings running along the neck and there seem to be no strings connected to the friction pegs. Admittedly, the girl holding the guitar is the subject of the picture and not the guitar itself. Vermeer may have skipped details in the props.
However, the girl's right hand suggests that she actually could play the instrument or that Vermeer knew enough about the guitar to have her pose in a correct position. She appears to be using traditional thumb-in right hand lute technique, her little finger anchoring her hand to the top. This technique is useful for instruments with gut strings in courses. It is a technique that drives me absolutely nuts whenever I return to my lutes and try to get serious about them. It is hard to do after decades of largely undisciplined guitar playing. It is particularly annoying because it sounds really good on the lute for the periods of time I can sustain it.
Clicking on an area of the image in the link below will enlarge it.
en.wikipedia.org
From a guitarist's point of view there is something wrong with the picture. The guitar is an eight string/four course [edit: correction by geoguy ... a ten string/five course] instrument, yet it does not seem that there are enough strings running along the neck and there seem to be no strings connected to the friction pegs. Admittedly, the girl holding the guitar is the subject of the picture and not the guitar itself. Vermeer may have skipped details in the props.
However, the girl's right hand suggests that she actually could play the instrument or that Vermeer knew enough about the guitar to have her pose in a correct position. She appears to be using traditional thumb-in right hand lute technique, her little finger anchoring her hand to the top. This technique is useful for instruments with gut strings in courses. It is a technique that drives me absolutely nuts whenever I return to my lutes and try to get serious about them. It is hard to do after decades of largely undisciplined guitar playing. It is particularly annoying because it sounds really good on the lute for the periods of time I can sustain it.
Clicking on an area of the image in the link below will enlarge it.
The Guitar Player (Vermeer) - Wikipedia
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