“The Lute Player” is an old Russian fairy tale about a king who has been kidnapped and rescued his queen. It’s also the title of an oil painting Caravaggio, an Italian baroque master, painted around 1600. Orazio Gentileschi also painted a painting with the same title, which is thought to have been painted between 1612 and 1620.
The Lute Player is a Russian fairy tale about a happily married king who became bored and wanted to seek adventure. He gathered his army and traveled to a faraway land to defeat a heathen king who tormented everyone in his path. When the king was apprehended, he requested assistance from his queen. She was afraid to leave for fear of being kidnapped. Because the queen didn’t know who she could trust, she disguised herself as a lute player and used her music to charm the evil king. He promised to give her anything she desired, so she chose the king and brought him home.
The Lute Player Caravaggio depicts an unidentified person with full lips, soft features, and brown hair. He’s singing a love song while playing the lute. The Lute Player was painted Caravaggio in three different versions. One is on display at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, another at Badminton House in Gloucestershire, England, and a third at the Wildenstein Collection in New York. The Badminton House version was discovered in 2007, a year after the others.
A marble table with a violin, sheet music, fruit, and a vase of flowers is depicted in front of the lute player in the Badminton House and Hermitage versions. A recorder, sheet music, and a spinetta are displayed on a carpet-covered table in the Wildenstein painting. A castrato named Pedro Montoya, who sang at the Sistine Chapel, is thought to be the model. Because he was identified in other paintings such as The Fortune Teller and Cardsharps, some believe it is Caravaggio’s companion, Mario Miniti.
Orazio Gentileschi created an oil on canvas painting of a girl playing the lute in front of a table. This painting is also known as The Lute, and it appears to be influenced Caravaggio’s work. A female musician with her head turned is depicted in Gentileschi’s painting. Several musical instruments are on the table in front of her. The table, like the Caravaggio paintings, has a cornetto, violin, recorders, and sheet music.