(active 1563–1597)
Satire on a madrigal concert,
oil on canvas, 135.5 x 212 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private European Collection

We are grateful to Bernard Aikema for confirming the attribution of the present painting after examination in the original.

The present painting is a somewhat simplified, but autograph version of a large picture by Niccolò Frangipane, now in a Belgian collection (Comte F. de Liederkerke, Chateau de Leefdael). Biographical data on Frangipane are few. All we know is that he was active in Northern Italy between 1563 and 1597, in Venice, the Veneto, the Marches, Romagna and Emilia. In 1594, Frangipane was registered in the Venetian painter’s guild. He may have been a pupil of Titian, but that is certainly not obvious from the present painting, which is typical of his style and subject matter. The picture shows a group of people, gathered around a table, most of them engaged in performing a madrigal. In the version kept in the Chateau de Leefdael, which is slightly more detailed than this picture, the texts on the scores can be read. They reveal that the musicians are performing a sonnet by Pietro Bembo, from 1530, in the musical setting by Orlando di Lasso. The latter’s collection of madrigals was first published in 1563, which indicates the date of our painting to certainly be subsequent to that year (see B. W. Meijer, Niccolò Frangipane, in: Saggi e memorie di storia dell’arte 8, 1972, pp. 175-176, cat. 16, fig. 35).

Frangipane’s pictures are not serious renderings of a “high-strung” performance of a neo-Petrarchan love song, but rather caricatures of such a concert. In fact, the protagonists are not singing in a disciplined way, but are shown laughing, shouting, gesticulating, drinking – in short, they show the kind of unrestrained behaviour which is the exact opposite of what one would expect of a courteous company usually associated with madrigals. The irreverent character of the scene is made explicit by sexual allusions (the “provocative” sausages, etc.) and the inappropriate presence of the cat and the crow. Moreover, we notice that the bodily proportions of the figures are the opposite of mannered elegance, as was usually associated with “high culture” social gatherings. In short, our picture is a perfect example of pittura ridicola, comic painting. This category of painting was popular in Northern Italy throughout the 16th century, known also in examples from the circle of Leonardo da Vinci and Dosso Dossi. Usually in such paintings, the protagonists are shown in close-up (half-length or three quarter), just as in the present canvas. A picture like this was made for a socially elevated clientele, who took pleasure in the way the artist knew how to play with the categories of high and low culture, combining them in a paradoxical manner.

In conclusion, the present work is a rare addition to the work of Niccolò Frangipane and a remarkable example of comic painting which also stands out because of its large size.