Artists–F

Barent Fabritius

Dutch painter of portraits and biblical, mythological, and historical scenes, most of which have been lost; born Midden-Beemster, near Hoorn (1624), died Amsterdam (1673); a teacher of Vermeer; son of Pieter Carlesz. Fabritius (1598–1653), brother of Carel Fabritius (1622–1654), both artists.

• Shepherd with Flute and Ring (1660), oil on canvas, 72.4 × 63.5 cm, Barent Fabritius (1624–1673). Private collection. Ref. Sumowski (1983, 2: 965, pl. 587); Brown (1981: fig. 43, b&w); Griffioen (1988: 438–439); Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague ex Ruth van Baak Griffioen (pers. comm., 2003); Gabrius Data Bank, OMP (2002, col.); Alfred Bader Fine Arts #2650 (2005, col.); Universitatario Olandese di Storia dell’Arte Firenze, Special Photo Study Collections, Image 0049523 (2009, b&w). A tronie in which a flamboyantly dressed man in a plumed, wide-brimmed hat with flowers and a weighted fringe (reminiscent of an Australian bushman’s hat with corks to keep the flies at bay), an open short-sleeved cloak, a jerkin with a V-neck and slashed sleeves, and a cravat holds a ring between the index finger and thumb of his right hand of which the remaining fingers grasp a soprano recorder with a flared, turned bell. The lowermost finger hole is clearly offset. In his right hand there appears to be a second, larger recorder or flute held across his lap. Auctioned by Alfred Bader (sold). This may be a self-portrait (Gabrius, loc. cit.).

Giovanni Battista da Faenza [also called Giovanni Battista Bertucci and ‘Utile’]

Italian painter whose style appears to have been influenced by Costa and Perugino; he has been confused with the painter now identified as Biagio di Antonio of Florence; active 1495–1516.

• Virgin and Child in Glory (? 1512–1516), oil on wood, 179.1 × 81.3 cm, Giovanni Battista da Faenza (op. 1495–1516). London: National Gallery, NG282. This altarpiece may have been the one painted in five sections by Giovanni between 1512 and 1516 for the Chapel of Saint Thomas Aquinas in S. Andrea, Faenza. Existing panels showing St John the Evangelist (Blaffer Foundation Collection, Rice University) and Thomas Aquinas can be associated with this picture as side panels. The Virgin and Child float on a cloud. Above and beside them, putti abound, the latter standing guard with lances. Below, two children sit on plinths playing rebec (left) and a prominently flared-bell duct flute the window/labium of which is clearly depicted and which shows quite enough holes to be a recorder. In the background are a church and some hills.

Joseph Fagnani

Fashionable Italian portraitist who worked in Naples, Vienna and Madrid before emigrating to the USA; he is well-known for his many paintings of distinguished people from both sides of the Atlantic, amongst them President Zachary Taylor (on his deathbed), President Millard Fillmore, Maria Christina of Spain, Sir Henry Bulwer, Garibaldi, Victor Emanuel, Lord Byron, the Empress Eugenie; his realistic but characterless portrait style is that which flourished everywhere in the mid-19th century – he has been described as having the unique distinction of being socially a sophisticate, historically a pioneer, and artistically a primitive; born Naples (1819), died New York (1873).

• The Nine Muses, or American Beauty Personified: Euterpe (1869), oil on canvas, 110.5 × 83.8 cm, Joseph Fagnani (1819–1873). New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, Inv. 74.46 Ref. Constance Old (ex Amanda Pond, pers. comm., 2002). One of a series of paintings depicting the Nine Muses which drew much attention as well-known American belles had served as models, painted to support the argument that American women were more beautiful than their European sisters. Euterpe (Muse of music and lyric poetry), modelled by Miss Minnie Parker, stands holding in her upraised left hand two duct flutes of equal size. The beak, window/labium, and 5 finger holes of each are clearly depicted. It seems reasonable to assume that her hand covers a further 2 finger holes on each instrument, in which case they might represent recorders, but tin whistles seem more likely. A nameless New York versifier wrote of the Muses:
  
  

  And not less lustrous than the stars which gleam
  On thy proud flag, America! behold
  Thy peerless daughters on the canvas beam,
  By the rare power of far-famed art extolled;
  And of the Nine, if some rude critic deem
  One of the pleiad worthy to uphold
  Above her rivals, say that none outshine
  A constellation which is all divine.

  
  

Pieter van der Faes = Sir Pieter Lely

Petro Falca = Pietro Longhi

Michael Faraday

English chemist and physicist known for his pioneering experiments in electricity and magnetism; born Newington, near London (1791); died Hampton Court (1867).

• Musical Trophy, pen & ink on paper, Michael Faraday (1791–1867). London: The Royal Institution. Ref. Bridgeman Art Library (2002: Image TRI168568, col.); Macmillan (2008: 136). A drawing from the scientist Michael Faraday’s scrapbook of a trophy comprising a triangle (with jingle rings), a post-horn, and a duct flute (flageolet or recorder). Faraday seems to have drawn quite a number of trophies of this kind. Macmillan (loc. cit.) describes the duct flute unequivocally as a recorder but, since it is viewed from behind, there really is no way of distinguishing this from a simple flageolet.

Casimir T. Farley

Contemporary Canadian artist and book illustrator living and working in Pacé, France, where he runs an art center in an 11th-century monastery. Farley calls his works Geiger counters of the human nervous system. His drawings are primarily portraits of people. His paintings have a broad range of subjects – myth, man in nature, abstractions, the structure of space and time.

• [Recorder Player], pen drawing, Casimir T. Farley. Ref. Early Music 4(1): 55 (1976). A man plays a highly stylised (fat, conical) recorder from a book open on the table in front of him.

Giovanni Antonio Fasolo

Italian artist; initially a pupil of Paolo Veronese, he subsequently had a short but successful career as a frescoist and portrait painter in and around Vicenza; produced stage designs for the Accademia Olimpica, Vicenza, and executed frescoes at several country villas which are characterized by their contemporary air and informality; born Mandello del Lario, Como (1530), died Vicenza (1572).

• Concert (1569), fresco, Giovanni Antonio Fasolo (1530–1572). Vicenza, Albettone: Palazzo Negri Dè Salvi. Ref. Brugnolo Meloncelli (1993: 97, col.); Paolo Biordi (pers. comm., 2000). Two men and two women sit around a table playing music. On the left a man plays a viol; on the right a woman plays the harpsichord; between them a woman (? singer) reads a score and a man holds a tenor-sized cylindrical recorder which he is about to play, all but the second finger of his lowermost hand covering their holes.

Carl Heinrich Jakob [Jacob] Fehling

German architect, painter and draftsman; born Dresden (1683), died Meissen (1753).

• Teofane (1719), Stage of the Royal Theatre, Dresden, side view with the private boxes and parterre  (1719), copperplate engraving, Carl Heinrich Jakob Fehling (1683–1753). Dresden: Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister. Ref. Smith (1980: 49); Simpson (1995: 96, pl. 26); Thomson & Rowland-Jones (1995: 86, fig. 26); Archiv Moeck; Munich RIdIM (1999: Ngm 982); Carpena (2007: fig. 1.13); Website: Die Deutsche Geschichte in Dokumenten und Bildern (2010); Website: Lute Iconography, Image LI-2880 (2023, b&w). A side view of the first performance of Antonio Lotti’s opera Teofane in the new Dresden Opera House at the ‘Zwinger’ with musicians (in an enclosure at the foot of the stage), and audience. Amongst the musicians are three alto recorder players (one resting), one bassoon or basset recorder, and two transverse flutes (one resting).
• Teofane, Stage of the Royal Theatre, Dresden, front view (1719), copperplate engraving, Carl Heinrich Jakob Fehling (1683–1753).  Dresden State Art Collections, Kupferstichkabinett, Inv. Sax. Top. Ca 200/13.  Ref. Wikimedia Commons (2011); Website: Lute Iconography, Image LI-2880 (2023, b&w). A front view of the first performance of Antonio Lotti’s opera Teofane in the new Dresden Opera House at the ‘Zwinger’ with musicians (in an enclosure at the foot of the stage), and audience. Amongst the musicians are two recorders (one resting), a basset recorder, and two transverse flutes (one resting). A gang of winged putti gambolling on the front wall of the musicians enclosure play musical instruments, amongst them two which may represent recorders.

R. Feillet (early 18th century), French

• The Violin, R. Feillet (early 18th century). Strasbourg: Musée des Beaux Arts. Ref. Archiv Moeck. A still-life in which a violin rests on top of some music on a table with an alto recorder with ivory mounts and foot.
• Still-life, oil on panel, 28.5 × 41.6 cm, R. Feillet (early 18th century). Köln: Kunsthaus Lempertz, Sale 701 Alte Kunst – Gemalde – Zeichnungen – Skuplturen, 14 May 1994, Lot 386 (unsold). Ref. Gabrius Data Bank, OMP (2001, col.) On a table lie a plate with nuts, playing dice, playing cards, two castanets, a jew’s harp, a violin and bow, and a recorder. The latter is in one piece with a flared bell, two turned beads between the holes for fingers six and seven, and details of the window/labium, and all seven finger holes (in line) very clearly depicted.

Grace Feldman

USAmerican viol player/teacher and artist living and working in New Haven CT.

• Laughing Dragon (2006), pencil & ink drawing, Grace Feldman (contemporary). Ref. American Recorder 46 (1): front cover (2006, col.) A jolly dancing dragon breathing fire and with his tail wrapped around his rear right leg holds a stylised neo-baroque recorder.

Matteo Felice

Italian illuminator who commanded a sizeable patronage at the Aragonese court and among religious institutions of the Kingdom of Naples-Sicily; his colourful miniatures are eclectic with characteristic boldly outlined, child-like figures, fl. 1467–1493.

• Psalter: Psalm 80: David with Musicians and Dancing Children (c.1465–1470), historiated initial ‘C’ on vellum, 5.5 × 5.5 cm, Matteo Felice (15th century) . The Hague: Museum Meermanno and Koninklijke Bibliotheek (KB) 131 F 18, fol. 86v. Ref. Website: Medieval & Renaissance Material Culture (2010, col.) Possibly made for a member of the family d´Avalos. King David, playing a porcine psaltery, is surrounded by musicians singing and playing organetto, lute, rebec, and a conical pipe which may be a recorder. Before him a group of young men are dancing.

Conrad Felixmüller [Felix Müller]

German painter and printmaker; much of his graphic work was published in various magazines devoted to Expressionist art and literature; born Dresden (1897), died West Berlin (1977).

• The Artist’s Son, Titus (1930), painting, Conrad Felixmüller (1897–1977). Regensburg: Museum Ostdeutsche Galerie, Inv. O. nr Slg Mock. Ref. Munich RIdIM (1999: Rog 501). Titus is shown in profile, with a soprano recorder. Notes by Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 1999).
• Flute Song (1930), print on paper, 14.8 × 15.2 cm, Conrad Felixmüller (1897–1977). Düsseldorf: Kunstmuseum, FM 1986/209. Ref. Munich RIdIM (1999: DÜk 701). A youth in profile plays a soprano, neo-baroque recorder.
• Flute Sonata (1935), print on paper, 61 × 48.5 cm, Conrad Felixmüller (1897–1977). Düsseldorf: Kunstmuseum, FM 1986/231. Ref. Munich RIdIM (1999: Dük 702). Two young men in an apartment stand before a music stand on which is a copy of a C.P.E. Bach Andante. One plays a keyed transverse flute; the other holds a flared-bell wind-instrument only the foot of which is visible. The latter appears to be an oboe or clarinet, but they would show keys near the bell end. A recorder remains a possibility.

Francesco Fernandi [Ferrando] = Franceso d’Imperiali

Gabriele Giolito de Ferrare

Italian printer active in Venice; amongst the first major publishers of literature in the vernacular Italian language; famous for his 1555 edition of Dante Alighieri’s Commedia, for the first time published with the title Divina Commedia; also well-known for his printer’s device, which had many variations but was most often represented by a phoenix emerging from flames atop a globe with the initials G.G.F. born Trino (c.1508), died Venice (1578).

• The Children of Venus (1533), engraving, Gabriele Giolito de Ferrare (ca 1508–1578). Ref. Trottein (1993: 174, fig. 77, b&w); Website: gallica (2012, b&w). In a wooded garden, amorous couples disport themselves whilst musicians play harp and lute, an old bearded man holds an obconical duct flute (possibly recorder), and a younger man behind blows what may be another recorder. Above them, on a cloud, Venus is drawn in a chariot by two doves directed by a winged Cupid with his bow and arrow.

Defendente Ferrari [de Ferrari, Deferrari] (di Chivasso)

Italian artist who dominated painting in western Piedmont for some 30 years; work includes altarpieces and miniatures of religious subjects; born Chivasso, near Turin (ca 1490), died (1535).

• St Anne, Virgin and Christ (1528), oil on panel, 16.6 × 87.5 cm, Defendente Ferrari (ca 1490–1535). Amsterdam: Rijkmuseum, Inv. SK-A-3394. The Christ child sitting on his mother’s lap reaches out to the book St Anne (mother of Mary) has on her lap. On each side of the central group, angels play a vielle and a narrow, flared-bell recorder respectively. The window of the recorder is clearly shown as is the hole for the little finger of the lowermost hand. The bell is decorated. The role of the Messiah’s grandparents in salvation history was commonly depicted in early medieval devotional art in a vertical double-Madonna arrangement known as Metterza in Italy (or Anna selbdritt in German-speaking regions or Anna te Drieën in neighboring Low Countries) literally “Anne herself the third,” or if you will “Granny makes three” with the family’s three generations. Another typical subject has Anne teaching the Virgin Mary how to read.
• The Holy Family with Angels  (c.1520), oil and gold leaf on panel, 147 × 72 cm, Defendente Ferrari (ca 1490–1535). Baltimore: Walters Art Museum, Inv. 37.711. Ref. Website: gallica (2012, b&w); Website: Wikimedia Commons (2012, col.) Enthroned as Queen of Heaven, Mary holds her son, who turns with an affectionate gesture to embrace Saint Joseph while angels sing and one plays a slender cylindrical pipe which has the characteristic beak of a duct flute and thus might represent a recorder. Mary’s husband is pictured as an old man who needs to use glasses to read. The inscription on the scroll below tells us that Mary was both mother and virgin, and Joseph’s old age testifies to the Christian miracle of the virgin birth. The painting was probably the central part of a polyptych (an altarpiece consisting of several panels). Rather than looking to ancient art as a model as so many of his Italian contemporaries did, Defendente Ferrari considered northern European painting with its close attention to naturalistic detail to be a proper source for an engaging religious art.
• Coronation of the Virgin (1520-25), tempera on wood panel, 212.0 × 139.5 cm, Defendente Ferrari (ca 1490–1535). Torino: Museo Civico d’Arte Antica (Palazzo Madama), Inv. 486. Object 0442/D; formerly Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli, Turin. Ref. RIdIM database,Record 3072 (2021). The Virgin, surrounded by twelve angel musicians, is crowned by Christ and God the Father; at her foot, ten angels are in prayer. The musicuans play frame drum, harp,  lira da braccio, lute, 6 trumpets, shawm, and duct flute (possibly a recorder, although only the head is view.

Gaudenzio Ferrari

Sixteenth-century Italian sculptor and frescoist who left his most important works to the community of Varallo, Santa Maria delle Grazie, and the sanctuary consisting of the Church of the Assunta and 45 chapels, with some 6,000 fresco figures (mostly by Ferrari); born Valduggia, near Vercelli (1470), died Milan (1546).

• Assumption of the Virgin Mary (1535), cupola fresco, Gaudenzio Ferrari (1470–1546). Detail 1. Detail 2. Saronno: Santuario della Beata Vergine dei Miracoli, cupola. Ref. Recorder Magazine 15(4): front cover; Franco Speroni (pers. comm., 2002); Bridgeman Art Library (2002: Image  BEN175762, 175763, col., 175764, 175776, col.); Dearling (1996: 6, col.); Website: Wikimedia (2011, col.); Website: gallica (2012, b&w); Ghianda (2014, col.) 140 angels sing and play musical instruments of many kinds. Some of them are European instruments (flutes, cornets, bombards, viols, portative organs, etc.); some are of South American derivation (Gaudenzio painted this fresco in 1535, 46 years after Christopher Columbus’ discovery of the Americas); others are fanciful and humorous parodies – there is an angel playing a bagpipe in the form of two large female breasts … a contribution to theories on the gender of angels, perhaps (Speroni, loc. cit.) Amongst the musicians are two pipe-playing angels with what appear to be flared-bell recorders, though both hold their lower little fingers beneath their instruments. A third angel (to the left of one of his fellows playing a pipe and tabor) holds a very small pipe, also with a flared bell, which might also represent a very small recorder. Curiously, despite the fact Ferrari was himself a skilled lyre player and lutenist, as Giovan Paolo Lomazzo tells us in his Temple of painting (1590), none of the stringed instruments in this magnificent fresco have strings (Ghianda, loc. cit.)

Ferrer de Bacco = Ferrer Bassa

Jaume [Jaime] Ferrer II

Catalan painter of gothic altarpieces; active 1437–1467; son of the painter Jaume Ferrer I (14-15th century); brother of Mathew Ferrer (op. 1503).

• Adoration of the Shepherds, Jaume Ferrer II (fl. 1437–1467). Detail. Vic (Spain): Museu Episcopal. Ref. Gudiol (1986: 730); Recorder Magazine 16 (4): cover, col. & 155, detail, b&w (1996); Rowland-Jones (1996: 155, detail, b&w); Rowland-Jones (1997: 15); Ballester (2000: 11, fig. 1, b&w); Pedros (2007: fig. 79, b&w); Website: gallica (2012, b&w). Panel from an altar-piece in the church of Verdú, Spain. One of the shepherds has a bagpipe slung over his arm; another plays (with one hand) a long, very slender, slightly flared recorder, with paired holes for the little finger of the lowermost hand visible.

Giuseppe Maria Ferrero di Roccaferrera

Italian-born USAmerican lecturer and professor of management science, information systems, computer applications, operations research, and quantitative methods  in a number of US Universities, finally settling at Syracuse University in 1965; outside his academic art he was an avid musician and artist who made a specialty of 17th-century Dutch style still-life paintings with early musical instruments; born Turin (1912), died 1999

• 1731 German Blockflöte (Recorder), oil on canvas board, 27.7 × 32.2 cm, Giuseppe M. Ferrero di Roccaferrera (1912-1999). Location unknown: auctioned in Philadelphia, Samuel T. Freeman & Co., Sale 1092A, Lot 11 (2001). Ref. Website: Artfact (2007). A baroque alto recorder lies across an oval table with some books, a flask, and an apple.
• Ivory German Blockflöte (Recorder) of the 17th Century, painting, Giuseppe M. Ferrero di Roccaferrera (1912-1999). Location unknown: auctioned in Philadelphia, Samuel T. Freeman & Co., Sale 1092A, Lot 27 (2001). Ref. Website: Artfact (2007). An ivory recorder lies across a table with an oven dish, a goblet, an apple, an open book, a document, etc.

Domenico Feti [or Fetti]

Italian painter, whose characteristic works are of religious themes turned into genre scenes of contemporary life; also a portraitist; born Rome (ca 1589), died Venice (1624).

• Man with a Recorder, painting, Domenico Feti (ca 1589–1624). Location unknown; sold London: Bonhams, Marshall Sale, 28 March 1974, Lot 112. Ref. Sale Catalogue, (1974: pl. 112); Warburg Institute, London. A man with a moustache in a slashed jacket wearing a magnificent feathered hat and seated in a chair holds a flared bell recorder of alto size. A splendid portrait!

Giusto Fiammingo

Fiammingo (‘Flemming’) was a name given to, or adopted by, a number of Flemish artists working in Italy.

• Madonna (ca 1450), Giusto Fiammingo. Location unknown. Ref. Besseler (1931: pl. 13). The Madonna and Child are serenaded by angel musicians. Three on the left sing from an open book of music. Three on the right play fiddle, lute and a cylindrical duct flute (flageolet or recorder) with a long window, the beak shaped rather like an American Indian love-flute, played right-hand uppermost, the upper four fingers on, the next finger hole showing , the rest of the instrument hidden. Two angels hover overhead with a wreath.

Paolo Fiammingo = Pauwels Frank

Ingenium Lechleitner Figaral (18th century)

• [Angel Musicians] (1725), gilded and coloured wooden statues, Ingenium Lechleitner Figaral (18th century). Innsbruck: Domkirche zu St Jakob, case of organ at West end. Ref. Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm. 2002); Wikimedia Commons (2016, col.); Website: Innsbruck, Dom St. Jakob, Hauptorgel (2024, col.). “At the top right side of the console, where there is a large thick book of music, angels hold lute, trumpet, and a perfectly modelled late baroque design alto recorder, with window/labium and all finger holes clearly shown. The recorder has baroque decorative turnery at both joints. The angel (not setting a good example to recorder players generally) holds the recorder by its foot-joint. On the other side of the organ an angel plays viol, and two others, holding music, sing” (Rowland-Jones, loc. cit.)

Sheldon (Shelley) Fink

US American artist and teacher, one of a group of realist painters active in New York the 1950s and 1960s.

• Nellie and Recorder (1966), lithograph, Shelley Fink (20th century). Location unknown. New York: Gallery Originals, 56/125. A young girl with flowers in her hair plays a neo-baroque soprano recorder. Advertised on eBay, 12 March 2011.

Hubert Arthur Finney

English painter, draughtsman and teacher who was reclusive and reluctant to show his work; born 1905, died 1991.

• Brian Playing a Recorder (c.1950), gouache on paper, 33 × 20 cm, Hubert Arthur Finney (1905–1991). London: Modern British Art Gallery, ref. 10425. A sad-looking man with furtive eyes and a receding hair-line wearing a sleeveless crap-coloured pullover holds a sad looking recorder. Another version below.
• Young Boy Playing a Recorder, oil on tracing paper 13.0 × 7.9 in. (33 x 20 cm), Hubert Arthur Finney (1905–1991). London: Modern British Art Gallery, ref. 10426. A sad-looking young man with furtive eyes and a receding hair-line wearing a sleeveless blue pullover (presumably Brian in younger days) holds a more recognisable recorder of neo-baroque design with a flared bell. Another version above.

Rosso Fiorentino [Giovanni Battista di Jacopo Rosso, called ‘Il Rosso’]

Italian artist, an exponent of the expressive style that is often called early or Florentine Mannerism, and one of the founders of the Fontainebleau school; his principal surviving work is the decoration of the Galerie François I at the palace of Fontainebleau (ca 1534–1537), where, in collaboration with Francesco Primaticcio (1504–1570), he developed an ornamental style whose influence was felt throughout northern Europe; his numerous designs for engravings also exercised a wide influence on the decorative arts both in Italy and in northern Europe; born Florence (1494), died Paris (?1540).

• Assumption (1513–1514), fresco, 385 × 395 cm, Rosso Fiorentino (1494–? 1540). Florence: Santissima Annunziata di Firenze, West Front. Ref. Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2002). One of a series of frescoes of the life of the Virgin, weathered, but recently carefully restored. Several artists are represented. The Virgin appears amid a glory of angels, one of whom holds a long pipe with a slightly flared bell. No window/labium is clear, but in other respects this is identifiable as a recorder of soprano/alto size. The mouthpiece is beaked, there are eight finger holes, and there is a slight contraction before the flare. Another of the angels plays lute, and two more sing. Beneath, the Apostles gaze upwards in amazement, their animated figures contrasting with the swirling movement of the angels above, almost like a caricature of realism.

Leonhardt Flegel

German artist; born 1602, died 1623; probably the son of the painter Georg Flegel (1566–1638).

• Allegory of a Woman’s Talents – Painting, Architecture, Etching and Music (1621), ink & watercolour on paper, 12.0 × 15.8 cm, Leonhardt Flegel (1602-1623). Frankfurt: Städesches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie. Ref. Munich RIdIM (1999: Fsm 165). A female personification of Arts and Sciences stands with arms outstretched. In her right hand she holds a pair of calipers, in her left an artist’s palette, brushes and a rapier. On the wall behind her are another pair of calipers, a book (possibly of music), and a flared-bell duct flute (probably a recorder though there are too few finger holes). On the floor in front of her are a globe, a vase of flowers, various rulers, T-squares and set squares, calipers, and a palette-knife.

Govert Teunisz. Flinck

Dutch Baroque painter of portraits, genre, and narrative subjects; one of Rembrandt’s most accomplished followers; born Cleves (1615), died Amsterdam (1660); father of Nicolaes Anthonis Flinck (1646–1723), also an artist.

• Portrait of ? Rembrandt as a Shepherd with Staff and Flute (ca 1636), oil on canvas, 74.5 × 64 cm, Govert Teunisz. Flinck (1615–1660). Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum, SK-A-3451. Ref. Brown et al. (1991: 318–319, pl. 61, col.); Kettering (1983: fig. 89); Sumowski (1983, 2: 1087, fig. 655); Griffioen (1988: 440–441); Thomson & Rowland-Jones (1995: 78, fig. 21, b&w); Bouterse (1995: 86); Universitatario Olandese di Storia dell’Arte Firenze, Special Photo Study Collections, Image 0036649 (2009, b&w). The subject holds a flared-bell, soprano recorder. This painting has a partner at the Brunswick Art Gallery, Germany, by the same artist entitled Saskia as a Shepherdess, also painted in 1636. Together they seem to have been intended as a pendant pair illustrating the motto ‘A sorrow shared is a sorrow halved’. The traditional identification of the models as Rembrandt and his wife Saskia has been questioned (see Brown et al., loc. cit.)
• Elegant Shepherdess Listening to a Shepherd Playing the Recorder in an Arcadian Landscape (1654), oil on canvas, 139 × 170 cm, Govert Teunisz. Flinck (1615–1660). New York: The Leiden Collection (Thomas S. Kaplan & Daphne Recanati Kaplan) GF 101; formerly The Hague: Smeulers Collection. Ref. Mirimonde (1977: 148, pl. 85, b&w); Sumowski (1983, II: 1067, pl. 635); Griffioen (1988: 440–441); Sotheby’s Auction Catalogue: Old Master Paintings, Sale AM1027, 8 May 2007, Amsterdam, Lot 73; Website: gallica (2012, b&w); Website: Johnny van Haeften Media Blog (2015, b&w); Website: The Leiden Collection (2021, col.)  The only large-scale multi-figured pastoral subject by the artist, painted in the fashionable Flemish-like academic style of the period. On a leafy bank, a shepherdess makes to crown her companion with a floral wreath whilst he pipes away on his near-cylindrical recorder, his thumb and fingers perfectly placed. In the background, sheep graze amongst wooded hills.
• A Couple of Young Shepherds (c. 1655–90), etching and engraving, 283 × 355 mm, Abraham Blooteling after Govaert Teunisz. Flinck (1615–1660). Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum, RP-P-BI-1847. Ref. Media Blog: Johnny van Haeften (2015, b&w); Website: The Leiden Collection (2021, b&w). A print (reversed) of Flinck’s Elegant Shepherdess Listening to a Shepherd Playing the Recorder in an Arcadian Landscape (see above).
• Shepherd and Shepherdess with a Garland (1683–1729), mezzotint, 167 × 210 mm (plate size), published by John Smith (p.1654–1742) after Govaert Flinck (1615–1660). London: National Portrait Gallery NPG D11852. A print of Flinck’s Elegant Shepherdess Listening to a Shepherd Playing the Recorder in an Arcadian Landscape (see above).
• Shepherd, Govert Tuenisz. Flinck (1615–1660). Location unknown: formerly, J.F. Kapp Collection, New York. Ref. Kettering (1983: fig. 18); Griffioen (1988: 440–441). A smiling shepherd holds a soprano hand-fluyt right hand uppermost, his crook under his arm.
• Shepherds, 66 × 77 cm, Govert Teunisz. Flinck (1615–1660). Stuttgart: Private Collection (? Rosenfeld). Ref. Website: Marburg Index 99 (2001, b&w). A shepherd and shepherdess stand on the edge of a forest, their animals nearby. She holds a crook; he holds a perfectly depicted hand fluyt with paired offset holes for the little finger of the lowermost (right) hand.
• Solomon’s Prayer for Wisdom (1658), 465 × 450 cm, Govert Teunisz. Flinck (1615–1660). Amsterdam: Stadhuis (Town Hall), formerly Koninklijk Paleis (Royal Palace), north wall of the Council Chamber. Ref. Goosens (1996: pl. XIX, col.); Liesbeth van der Sluis (pers. comm., 2003); Website: Athaenaum (2015, col.) Once the temple in Jerusalem had been completed, God appeared to Solomon in a dream. The painting shows Solomon in a magnificent gold robe, in the presence of the priests and elders of Israel. According to the biblical account, when God asked Solomon what he most desired, Solomon requested the wisdom to rule his people well. Here, he is seen surrounded by his subjects and retainers, Solomon kneels in prayer before a host of Angels and putti, many of whom play musical instruments including shofar, harp, tambourine, lute, cittern, violin, viol, organ, and a flared-bell recorder.
• Solomon’s Prayer for Wisdom (ca 1655), oil on canvas, 113.9 × 101.8 cm, Govert Teunisz. Flinck (1615–1660). Greenville: Bob Jones University Museum & Gallery. Ref. Website: Athaenaum (2015, col.) A preparatory sketch for the larger composition which still hangs in its original position as a chimneypiece in “The Moses Room”  in the Royal Palace, Dam Square, Amsterdam (see above). Once the temple in Jerusalem had been completed, God appeared to Solomon in a dream. The painting shows Solomon in a magnificent gold robe, in the presence of the priests and elders of Israel. According to the biblical account, when God asked Solomon what he most desired, Solomon requested the wisdom to rule his people well. Here, he is seen surrounded by his subjects and retainers, Solomon kneels in prayer before a host of Angels and putti, many of whom play musical instruments including shofar, harp, tambourine, lute, cittern, violin, viol, organ, and a flared-bell recorder.
• A young Lady playing the Lute to a young Man reading, OR An Allegory of Sight and Hearing (1643), painting, oil on canvas, 86.3 × 107.3 cm, Govert Teunisz. Flinck (1615–1660). London: Sotheby’s, Old Masters Day Sale, 5 December 2019, Lot 149. Ref. Website: gallica (2012, b&w); Website: Lute Iconography, Image LI-1963 (2023, col.) Seated at a table, a young man reading a score leans dreamily on his arm whilst a woman opposite him plays the lute. On the table are scores and a cylindrical pipe only the body and five finger holes are visible, all inline. This may well be a flute, of course, but a recorder remains a possibility.

Sir William Russell Flint

Scottish illustrator and artist who worked in various media but best known for his watercolors and his many depictions of the female body in muted ochre hues, infusing his images with a studied sense of realism and a subdued hint of eroticism; born Edinburgh (1880), died London (1969).

• Two Recorder Players, chalk on paper, 22.2 × 15.2 cm, William Russell Flint (1880–1969). Saxon Books, Prints Post 1900, Miscellaneous Prints, 18 (2002, col.) Ref. Website: Painting Star (2020, col.) Two young women in flowing dresses and bare feet sit side by side holding their neo-baroque recorders — an alto and tenor perhaps. Both instruments seem to have ivory mounts. Signed: “£65. Monica’s ‘recorder’ is a handsome instrument fashioned by a cunning craftsman. Too seldom it fills my studio with its woody notes. It is the successor to a simple pipe upon which, already too many years ago, she played for my delight on southern mountains and southern shores.”

Charles-Joseph Flipart (1721-1797)

French-born engraver and painter who worked in the studio of the engraver Wagner in Venice where he was imbued with Italian Baroque colourism and the descriptive and anecdotal spirit of the age. He collaborated with Jacopo Amigoni (1685-1752) whom he followed to Spain. Later he directed the Royal Tapestry Works, and taught at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. He was born in Paris (1721) and died in Madrid (1797). He was the son of the engraver Jean-Charles Flipart (1682–1751), and brother of the engraver Jean Jacques Flipart (1719–1782) .

• Fête in a Garden, oil on canvas, 48 x 69 cm, Charles-Joseph Flipart (1721-1797). Madrid: Museo del Prado, Inv. P002477. Watched by elegantly dressed ladies and gentlemen, a couple dance to music played by a band comprising violin, cello, two horns and a wind instrument (probably an oboe, but possibly a recorder), the latter played by a young woman. This painting has previously been attributed to Jacopo Amigoni (1685–1752).

Frans Floris I [de Vriendt]

Dutch painter, draughtsman and etcher; a leading exponent of Romanism in Antwerp, his history painting influenced a generation of Flemish artists; largely responsible for the introduction of studios organized in the Italian manner, with skilled assistants, a practice subsequently adopted by other Netherlandish artists, most notably Rubens; born and died Antwerp (1519/20–1570); brother of Cornelis Floris II (ca 1513–1575).

• Athena Visits the Muses, Frans Floris I (1519/20–1575). Chantilly: Musée Condé. Ref. Flamand (1965: 86); Liesbeth van der Sluijs (pers. comm, 2001); Website: Lute Iconography, Image LI-847 (2023, col.) In a clearing in the forest the nine Muses amuse themselves with musical instruments (trumpet, lute, vihuela da mano, cittern, and songbooks, sitting around a table. On the left, Athena with helmet and red plumes holds a long staff. On the table, lie a recorder and a cornetto, crossed. On the ground is a lyre. There is a little fluffy grey dog in the foreground left. Above left, Pegasus flits across the sky.
• Mankind Before the Flood / Depraved Humanity Consumes Time (1560–1580),  intaglio print, 200 × 297 cm, anonymous engraving  after Frans Floris I (1519/20-1575). Rotterdam: Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Inv. L 1965/100 (PK). Ref. Velde (1975: 156, cat. P3); Rasmussen (2002, Lute); gallica (2012, b&w). Printed and published Johannes Baptista Vrints I (1575–1610). An illustration based on Matthew 24: 37. Around a table in a leafy garden, a group of men and women indulge in the guilty pleasures of food, wine, music and lechery. A man plays a lute and another plays an alto recorder from music held by one of the women. The recorder is more or less cylindrical and the beak is visible; all fingers of the upper (right) hand and the first two of the lower hand are covering their holes and two open holes are visible under the raised fingers. A legend reads:

MORTALES TVRPI CONSVMVNT TEMPORA
LETAQVE AD INSTRVCTUS CARPENTES GAVDIA MENSAS

• Musica, engraving by Monogrammist HIV, after Frans Floris I (1519/20–1570). Ref. Hollstein (1949–, 4: 184, no. 52, as Hieronymus Cock after Vos, probably 1550 or 1551); Velde (1975: 257, cat. P111); Moens & Kockelbergh (1994: 55, no. 4); Rasmussen (2002, Lute; 2007, Flute). From a Liberal Arts series. The personification of music plays a lute. There are several unplayed musical instruments. A number of musical instruments lie around her feet: viol (and bow), harp, flute, flute case with flutes, recorder, tiny shawm plus music books and sheet (Rasmussen, loc. cit.) Not seen.
• Auditus [Hearing] (1561), engraving, 21.2 × 27.4 cm, by Cornelius Cort (1533–a. 1578), after Frans Floris I (1519/20–1570). Antwerp: National Print Collection, cat. III/C. 522; Vienna: Albertina; Washington: National Gallery of Art 1975.70.1;  Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum; Philadelphia: Museum of Art, 1985-52-8400; Frankfurt-am-Main: Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Graphische Sammlung. Ref. Bartsch (1843–1876, 52: 266, no. 232); Bierens-de-Haan (1948: 222, 232); Hollstein (?date, 5: 59 & 231–235); Hollstein  (?date, 6: 255, 70–74); Velde (1970: 269, no. P77); Velde (1975: cat. P136, Afb. 289); Riggs (1977: 231, 83); Muller et al. (1978, 68, cat. 10b); Strauss & Field (1978, 52: 266, no. 266); Muziek 16, Brussels (1985); Evanston (1993: 9); Moens & Kockelbergh (1994: 59, no. 8); Archiv Moeck; Paris RIdIM (2000); Rasmussen (2002, Bagpipe; 2007; Flute; 2007; Drum: 7); Website: Ikonographie der Renaissanceflöte (2009); Website: Lute Iconography, Image LI-1197 (2023, b&w). One of a series depicting the Five Senses published by Hieronymus Cock. The personification of hearing sits beneath a tree tuning her lute, watched by a stag, and surrounded by musical instruments including organ, drum, trumpet, cello (with frets), bagpipe, cornetti, violin, a case of flutes, and a cylindrical recorder (with paired holes for the lowermost finger clearly shown) lying under the fingerboard of a violin (obscuring two finger holes) with a brief but marked bell flare. A legend reads:
  

  AVDITVUS SENSORIUM EXTERIUS EST AURIS ET CRASSUS QUIDAM IN EA AER INTERIUS VERO NERVI AB AURIBUS AD CEREBRUM PERTINENTE

  A lunette (panel) in the Pillar Chamber at Bolsover Castle, Derbyshire (ca 1615), appears to be derived from the same source.

• Musica (1550–1551), engraving, 29.6 × 20.1 cm, by Hieronymous Cock (ca 1510–1570) after a painting by Frans Floris I (1519/20–1570). Antwerp: Museum Plantin-Moretus, Prentenkabinet Cat. PK.OP.12562 | III/C.616.  Ref. Moens & Kockelbergh (1994: fig. 4); Paris RIdIM (2000); Website: Ikonographie der Renaissanceflöte (2009). A personification of Music, standing, plays a lute against a background of mountains, a river and a bridge. At her feet lie some music, including a part-book labelled Bassus and a number of musical instruments including a small harp, a vihuela de arco and bow, a flute, a small shawm, a case with five tubes for wind instruments with the lid off partly revealing three ? flutes, a small flared-bell duct flute (flageolet or recorder), the beak, window/labium and six finger holes (in line) can be seen. A legend reads:
  

  VIS MEA ET HUMANAS MENTEIS ET NUMINA RAPTAT

• Musica (1565), engraving, 22.5 × 27.8 cm, by Cornelius Cort (1533/6–1578) after a painting by Frans Floris I (1519/20–1570). Amsterdam: National Print Collection; Antwerp: National Print Collection, Cat. III/C. 511; Den Haag: Gemeentesmuseum, Music Department; London: British Museum, Inv. F,1.291. Ref. Hass (1931: 132); Ripin (1977: pl. 58); Moens & Kockelbergh (1994: fig. 6); Paris RIdIM (2000); Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2001); Website: British Museum (2012, b&w); Website: Lute Iconography LI-494 (2023, b&w.) Published by Hieronymus Cock. A personification of Music sits at a table playing the virginals surrounded by musicians singing and playing lutes. On the wall behind hang a sackbut, bagpipes, flutes and trumpet. On the ground are scattered various instruments including triangle (with jingle rings), harp, shawm, hurdy-gurdy, violins, cittern, cornetto and a cylindrical duct flute (flageolet or recorder) of which only the head and first four finger holes are visible. A legend reads:
  

  CONCENTUM INTER SE, ET DISCRIMINA GRATA SONORUM AURE ERUDITA DEPRHENDIT MUSICA

• The Seven Liberal Arts, engraving by Luca Ciamberlano (1589–1641) after Frans Floris Location unknown. Ref. Website (Blog): avanguard (2012, b&w). Personifications of the Liberal Arts sit together variously calculating, reading, arguing, making measurements on a celestial globe, philosophising and playing music. Musica plays the virginals and is accompanied by a young man on lute. At her feet are musical instruments, including harp, shawm, cittern, violin, hurdy-gurdy, and a recorder, the beak, window/labium and first four finger holes clearly depicted. Scattered elsewhere on the floor are books and mathematical instruments, etc.

Peter Flötner [or Flettner]

German sculptor, medallist, cabinetmaker, woodcutter and designer; the arabesques of combined acanthus leaves and vine leaves extending into grotesque figures or dolphins found on much of his decorative work, are derived from Lombard architecture, such as the portals of the Certosa di Pavia; born Thurgau (1485–1496), died Nuremberg (1546). See also entries under Pankraz Labenwolf (1492–1563).

• Euterpe, metal plaquette, 8.0 × 5.9 cm, Peter Flötner (ca 1490–1546). Berlin: Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Inv. 92 D 42 2. Ref. Munich RIdIM (1999: MBnm 322; Bsg 85). Euterpe (Muse of music and lyric poetry), looking decidedly pregnant in a flowing gown, plays on an alto- or tenor-sized recorder. On the ground before her is a portative organ.
• Euterpe (1530-1540), stone plaquette, 6.8 × 4.5 cm, Peter Flötner (ca 1490), Munich: Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Inv. M58, 2. Ref. Weber (1975: 58, 2); Munich RIdIM (1999: Mbnm – 322); Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2002). Euterpe (Muse of music and lyric poetry), looking decidedly pregnant in a flowing gown, plays on an alto- or tenor-sized recorder. On the ground before her is a portative organ.
• Euterpe, gilt silver plaquette, 4.8 × 3.2 cm, Peter Flötner (ca 1490–1546). New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, Inv. 30.95.130. A patently male putto stands in front of a portative organ blowing a flared pipe, possibly a mute cornet, shawm or recorder. The title EVT–ERPA is incised into the top of the plaque. One of a series of plaquettes representing putti with attributes of the muses.
• Four Putti with Attributes of the Muses, four cast silver plaquettes, workshop of Pankraz Labenwolf (1492–1563), after a design from the circle of Peter Flötner (ca 1490–1546). London: Spink and Sons, An Important Collection of Renaissance Medals & Plaquettes, 24 January 2008. Ref. Website: Invaluable (2016, col.) Curiously,two of the putti are clearly male; the others have their backs to us.
  • Caliope, 4.9 × 3.6 cm. A putto, seen from behind, walking to the left, holding a writing tablet and pointing with his finger, a house in the distance, CALI – OPE across the upper field.
  • Clio, 5.0 × 3.3 mm. A putto, seen from the front, standing amidst books scattered on the ground, pointing down to the right, in the distance a building with a pediment and a tower; I – CLIO across the upper field.
  • Euterpe, 4.8 ×  3.3 mm, A putto, seen from the front, walking to the left and playing a recorder; behind him a set of organ pipes; EVT – ERPA across the upper field. The recorder is conical with clearly depicted window/labium and paired holes for the little finger of the lowermost (left) hand.
  • Polyhymnia, 4.9 × 3.5 mm. A strolling putto facing right plays the lute, another lute on the ground in front of him, POL – IMNIΛ across upper field
• Musical Putto (1534), pedestal, Peter Flötneer (ca 1490–1546). Detail of the left pedestal of the so-called ‘fire-place’. Nuremberg: Museum Tucherschloss and Hirsvogelsaal, Garten des Tucherschlöschens. Ref. Website: Virtual Museum of Nuremberg Art (2017, col.) A male winged putto plays a flared-bell pipe, possibly a recorder.
• Musical garland (1534), carved wood, Peter Flötneer (ca 1490–1546). Peter Flötneer (ca 1490–1546). Nuremberg: Museum Tucherschloss and Hirsvogelsaal, Hirsvogelsaal, Eastern pilaster. Ref. Virtual Museum of Nuremberg Art (2017, col.); Website: Lute Iconography Database LI-2428 (2023, col.) Details. A long garland of musical instruments which comprises a flared-bell recorder with clearly depicted beak and window/labium, harp, shawm, timbrel (with pellet bells), mute cornetto, curved cornetto, chamber organ, crumhorns, hurdy-gurdy, bladder pipe, syrinx, lute, and jingling johnny.

Bernard Flower

Flemish glazier who came to work in England in the late 15th century; he was King’s Glazier to Henry VII and Henry VIII, the first non-Englishman to hold this office; stained glass attributed to Flower include parts of the West Window of St George’s Chapel, Windsor, windows in King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, the great pilgrimage chapel of Our Lady at Walsingham in Norfolk, and most of the glazing at St Mary’s Church, Fairford; he died in 1517.

• Angel Musician (1497–1517), stained glass, Barnard Flower (m. 1517). Fairford: Parish Church of St Mary, South clerestory windows. Ref. Website, Flickr: Anges musicians (2010, col.) An angel with long curly hair plays a cylindrical duct flute, the window-labium clearly depicted. Angels in other stained glass windows along this wall sing and play shawm, bagpipe, organetto, harp, triangle (with jingle rings), rebec, and gittern; one appears to be conducting. Built in the late 1490s, Saint Mary’s is renowned for the most complete set of late mediaeval stained glass windows in the country, and its structure and details remains unaltered since its original construction. Many of the glaziers and glass painters who worked on the project were Dutch, which shows in the styling of the windows. Since 1988, nearly all the windows have been beautifully cleaned, restored, re-leaded and protected by the Barley Studio in York.

Marcello Fogolino

Italian frescoist and printmaker in the Mannerist style; he worked in Vicenza under Bartolomeo Montagna (1450–1523) until his banishment from Venice (for complicity in a murder) in 1527, and then in Trento from whence he painted frescoes in the Tridentine region; born Vicenza (1482–1488), died (1548); son of Francisco, a painter from San Vito al Tagliamento.

• Concerto campestre [Musicians in a Landscape] (1510-1525), oil on canvas, Marcello Fogolino (1482/8–1548). Vicenza: Museo Civico di Palazzo Chiericati, Inv. 883/48. Ref. Barbieri (1962: 134); Puppi (1961: 227); Brugnolo & Cevese (1993: 42, b&w); Rasmussen (1999b); Paolo Biordi (2002, pers. comm.); Website: Fondazione  Vajenti (2016: Image 883/48, b&w). Two couples dance to music provided by three draped women who play fiddle (kneeling), lute (seated) and recorder (standing). The beak, window/labium and a number of finger holes are clearly depicted, including paired holes for the little finger of the lowermost (left) hand.
• Madonna delle stelle [Madonna of the Stars] (ca 1520), oil on canvas, Marcello Fogolino (1482/8–1548). Vicencza: Chiesa di Santa Corona. Ref. Brugnolo Meloncelli & Cevese (1993: 26, col.); Paolo Biordi (2002, pers. comm.); Website: Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali (2009, col.) Above a town beside a river, the Virgin and Child, born up by winged heads surrounded by a billowing cloud. They are crowned by winged putti with a triple crown above which hovers a dove with outstretched wings. They are surrounded by musical angels singing and playing lysard, triangular harp, lutes, tambourine (with jingle rings), fiddle, and a cylindrical duct flute. The characteristic beak of the latter is clearly seen but no other details are visible: it probably represents a recorder. The central depiction of the Madonna and Child is by Lorenzo Veneziano (documented in Venice from 1356 to 1372) which was enlarged and transformed  by Marcello Fogolino in the first decades of the 16th century – the angels and the “predella” with the famous view of Vicenza are due to him.
• [Three Recorder-playing Putti], early 16th century, fresco, attributed to Marcello Fogolino. Trento: Palazzo Sardagna, chapel ceiling. Ref. Website: Wikipedia (2016, col.) Program: Inaugurazione dell anno accademico e Conferimento della laurea honoris causa in Scienze storiche a Heinz Schilling, Aual Magna della Facolta di Giurisprudeza via Rosmini 27, Trento, 13 November 2014 (col.)   One of a series of panels surrounding a central roundel depicting the Madonna and Child. Three putti (one white, one black, one brown) float amongst the clouds playing slender slender cylindrical or nearly cylindrical recorders. The beak, window-labium and finger holes of each variously visible. One of the instruments has an offset hole for the little finger of the lowermost hand. Two play right hand uppermost; the third plays left hand uppermost.

Charles-Auguste [Charles Augustin] Fonson

Flemish sculptor known only from his extensive contribution to the furnishing of the church of St Nicolas en Havré at Mons; born and died Mons (1706–1788).

• Putto with a Recorder (1755), carved-oak statue, Charles-Auguste Fonson (1706–1788). Mons: Eglise Saint-Nicolas en Havré. Ref. Institute Royal du Patrimonie Artistique / Koninklijk Instituut voor hef Kunstpatrimonium (IRPA/KIK), Brussels (2016). One of 14 statues depicting putti playing musical instruments – violin, harp, bassoon, lyre, flute, etc. Here a putto holds a perfectly depicted baroque recorder which has an unusually long foot.

Lavinia Fontana

Italian artist considered the first woman painter to have had a successful artistic career; her works include portraits, still lifes, small and large scale biblical and mythological works with many figures, and large public altarpieces; born Bologna (1552), died Rome (1614); daughter of painter Prospero Fontana (1512–1597).

• Allegory of Music, drawing, Lavinia Fontana (1552–1614). Chatsworth House: Devonshire Collection. Ref. Florence: Villa i Tatti NC255J24 (1994); Jaffe (1994: 130, fig.) A woman plays the virginals opposite two men who play lutes and a third who sings from a score shared with a youth. On the floor in the foreground lie cittern, viol, hurdy gurdy, harp, viola da braccio, cornetto and a tapering recorder of alto size, the beak, window/labium and seven finger holes of which are clearly depicted.

Prospero Fontana

Italian mannerist painter and influential teacher; he studied closely the work of important masters including Michelangelo, Raphael and Parmigiannino, and assisted a number of decorative masters, including Vasari; he worked in Bologna, Genoa, Florence and Rome; born Bologna (1512), died Rome (1597); father of painter Lavinia Fontana (1552–1614).

• The Holy Family with St Cecilia and a Holy Martyr, Prospero Fontana (1512–1597). Detail. Dresden: Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister. Ref. Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2001); Gaston (1978, b&w); Website: flickriver, Allie Caulfield’s photostream (2009, col.) Watched by Joseph, Mary nurses the Child while he grasps her wrist with his left hand, an image developed earlier in the century by Raphael. At Mary’s feet in the bottom right-hand corner lies a cylindrical duct flute (probably a recorder) the block of which is missing but which must have been exceptionally long and of a unique undulating shape. Each of the women holds a palm frond denoting the martyr’s ‘victory’ over death. One reaches towards an organetto and there is a recorder at her feet which, together, identify her as St Cecilia. The other holds a crucifix held in her left hand, a symbol not normally associated with martyrdom but which may be an attribute identifying her as a particular martyr.

Francesco Fontebasso

Italian painter, printmaker and draughtsman; one of the most prolific and well-known followers of Sebastiano Ricci, with whom he had his earliest training, and particularly of Giambattista Tiepolo; born and died Venice (1707–1769).

• Brindisi di Giove in Olimpo, Francesco Fontebasso (1709–1769). Vercelli: Museo Civico Borgogno. Design for a ceiling fresco, not yet traced. Includes two harpists who accompany a satyr playing a flared-bell pipe. It is difficult to distinguish between a possible shawm pirouette, or the player’s lips. But it is a bit late for shawms, and the use of harps suggests a recorder. Notes by Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm.) Restored by Marialuisa Lucini (2008–2010).
• Allegory of Music, drawing, Francesco Fontebasso (1709–1769). Location unknown. Ref. Website: gallica (2012, b&w). Amongst the clouds, a female personification of Music playing a long-necked lute is surrounded by putti singing and playing flute, drums (only the sticks visible), and a cylindrical pipe, possibly intended to represent a recorder.

Karel de Fonteyn [Carel Le Fontijni]

Flemish painter who became Master of the Guild of Saint Lucas in Antwerp in 1664; he is known from only two surviving till-lifes; born ca 1640, died after 1665.

• Vanitas (1665), oil on canvas, 90 × 106 cm, Karel de Fonteyn (ca 1640-p.1665). Private Collection: auctioned Galerie Philippe Heim, Paris (1964). Ref. Paris RIdIM (1999); Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie 17602 (2010, b&w); Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2001); Website: gallica (2016, b&w). On a table, a vase of beautiful flowers is surrounded by a litter of objects, including books, documents and papers, an open score, a human cranium, an hour-glass, a shell, a plate, a candlestick (the candle worn down), a kit (dancing master’s fiddle) and an alto hand-fluyt, tapered with a flared bell.
• Vanitas, Karel de Fonteyn (17th century). Antwerp: Private Collection. Ref. Museum Antwerpen (1965, detail). A still-life with a table covered in various objects including a vase of flowers, a skull, a candlestick, sheet music, books, a little tobacco, and a cylindrical recorder.

Pieter Fontijn – see David Teniers II

Dutch portraitist and landscape painter; born and died Dordrecht (1773–1839).

Jacob de Formentrou

Flemish artist active in Antwerp who specialized in the genres of merry companies and gallery paintings; born 1620–1625, died p. 1659.

• A Cabinet of Pictures (1654–1659), oil on canvas, 75.3 × 112.1 cm, Jacob de Formentrou (1620/1625–p. 1659). Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II: Royal Collection, Inv. RCIN 404084. Ref. Riksbureau voor Kunsthistoriche Documentatie 116518 (2010, b&w); Wikipedia (2014, col.) In the middle of a room displaying a collection of artworks a man crouches down to look at a vanitas with a military theme propped up against an easel. On the easel is a portrait of a Tarzan-like figure. The various pictures that are hung on the walls of the room represent works by leading artists of de Formentrou’s generation working in Antwerp in the middle and second half of the 17th century and include a landscape by Gaspar de Witte (1624-1681), a vanitas by Hendrick Andriessen (1607–1655) as well as  portraits of Rubens and van Dyck, the two eminent Antwerp artists of the previous generation. A tall woman stands in a doorway looking into the room, holding the hand of a young girl. Opposite them, on the other side of the room, the owner, hands on hips, surveys the paintings at the easel whilst his friends discuss the merits of the artwork around a table on which there is a lute. Are these new purchases? A dog sniffs the air, perhaps offended by the smell of oil paints. What interests us here is the still-life by Andriessen which contains a skull and other vanitas objects, including a hand fluyt. The painting can be read as a reference to connoisseurship, and in particular the connoisseur’s activity of evaluating the authorship of paintings based on stylistic characteristics. It can also be regarded as a carefully crafted advertisement of the current talent and past legacy of the Antwerp school of painting.

Ambrogio di Stefano da Fossano – see Bergognone

Ed Fotheringham

Contemporary Australian artist, resident in Seattle; has published illustrations in the New Yorker, and assignments for Rolling Stone, Warner Brothers, Neiman Marcus and GQ magazine; sometime grunge singer with the aptly named The Throw Ups who are, perhaps, their own best critics.

• Recorder Cityscapes (1998), Ed Fotheringham (contemporary). Ref. American Recorder 39 (4): front cover, col. (1998). Recorder skyscrapers tower above little cars hurrying about their business.

Jean Fouquet [Foccare]

Preeminent French painter of the 15th century who created a new style, combining the experiments of Italian painting with the exquisite precision of characterization and detail of Flemish art; known for his miniatures, and for his portraits; active in Tours and Paris; born Tours (ca 1420), died Tours (ca 1481).

• Book of Hours (1450–1560): St Stephan and Estienne Chevalier, illuminated miniature, Jean Fouquet (ca 1447– ca 1480). Chantilly: Musée Condée. Ref. Sauerlandt (1922: 9); Peter (1958: 43); Website: gallica (2012, b&w). St Stephan and Estienne Chevalier (Treasurer of France and Fouquet’s patron) are surrounded by a host of angel musicians playing lute, psaltery, and three slightly flared recorders.
• Book of Hours (Hours of Simon de Varie; use of Paris), Maître François, workshop of the Bedford-master, Master of the Dunois Hours (illuminators): Prayer to the Virgin Mary Sitting on the Ground, Reads to the Christ-child (1455), illuminated miniature on vellum, 5.2 × 3.5 cm, Tours, Jean Fouquet (ca 1447–ca 1480). The Hague: Koninklijke Bibliotheek, KB, 74 G 37, Fol. 12r: full-page min. Ref. Koninklijke Bibliotheek: Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts (2014). Mary sits beneath a canopy reading a book to the Christ-child, who turns the pages for her. On either side are musical angels who play lute and a cylindrical pipe, possibly a recorder since all fingers of the lowermost (left) hand seem to be in play. The highly decorated margin includes angels playing lute and organetto.

Jean-Honoré Fragonard

French painter, draughtsman, printmaker and museum official; the most brilliant and versatile artist in 18th-century France, he wielded brush, chalk and etcher’s needle with extraordinary virtuosity, effortlessly varying his touch as he produced a succession of consummate masterpieces on themes from religion, mythology, genre and landscape; born Grasse (1732), died Paris (1806); his son, Théophile Fragonard (1806–1876) worked as a painter for Sèvres.

• Psyche Showing her Sisters her Gifts from Cupid (1753), oil on canvas, 168.3 × 192.4 cm, Jean Honoré Fragonard (1732–1806). London: National Gallery, NG 6445. Ref. Website: National Gallery (2002); Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2002). A scene from the classical fable (not myth) of Cupid and Psyche, which was originally told by Lucius Apuleius (2nd century AD) in his Golden Ass (Books 4-6). Fragonard’s painting is probably based on La Fontaine’s retelling of the fable. After falling in love with Psyche, Cupid had visited her only at night, forbidding her to look upon him. In the painting, Psyche shows her two sisters the gifts she has received from her lover, and, moved by jealousy – one of the Furies appears in the sky above the sisters – they persuade her to uncover Cupid’s identity and thus wreck her happiness. At the bottom right is a tambour and a small cylindrical duct flute with six finger holes of different sizes and not quite in line, and there may be one further hole, offset to the right where one could imagine a little-finger hole might be. There is no bell flare.
• Personifications of Music, Sculpture, Painting and Literature, oil on canvas, school of Jean Honoré Fragonard (1732–1806). Ref. Gabrius Data Bank, OMP (2001, col.) Music is personified by an almost naked young woman reading a score. Behind her is a lute; before her is a trophy of two wind instruments tied together with a ribbon. The instruments are flared-bell pipes which may have been intended to represent recorders. Auctioned 23 May 2000, sold (Gabrius, loc. cit.)
• The Musical Contest (1754), oil on canvas, 62 × 74 cm, Jean Honoré Fragonard (1732–1806). London: Wallace Collection, Inv. P471. Ref. Website: flautotraverso.it (2003, col.) Two earnest young musicians compete for the attention of a young woman with a parasol. One of the musicians sits on the ground playing a musette; the other, holding a small recorder in one hand, is on his knees, imploring the woman who is awarding her wreath to the bagpiper.

Sir George (James) Frampton

Influential English sculptor and decorative artist; his conception of late Pre-Raphaelite imagery culminated in his ethereal and idealized sculptures; born and died London (1860–1928).

• Peter Pan, cast lead sculpture, after Sir George Frampton (1860–1900). Adelaide: Veale Gardens, Conservatory. Ref. South Australian Government, Adelaide, Media Release: Councillor issues plea for Peter Pan to be returned from Never Never Land (8 August 2000); Adelaide City Council: Public Civic Collection Listing (accessed 2004). A cast lead replica (said to be based on the sculpture of Peter Pan by Sir George Frampton erected in London’s Kensington Gardens in 1912) was donated to the City of Adelaide by Alderman Robert Clampett following his term as Lord Mayor from 1973 to 1975. The first statue of the “boy who never grew up” disappeared from Veale Gardens in 1987. Its replacement was cast in London (by Crowther of Syon Lodge, Ltd) and shipped to Adelaide in the same year. It, too, went missing in August 2000. In the event, it looks not one jot like the charming original! Here, Peter Pan is bent over a single, long, slender, somewhat bent pipe with what seems to be recorder fingering, though no identifying details are visible. In Frampton’s original sculpture and authentic copies of it in the Tate Gallery (London, UK), Bowring Park (St John’s, Newfoundland), Queen’s Gardens (Perth, Western Australia), Camden (New Jersey, USA), Sefton Park (Liverpool, UK), Toronto (Canada), Brussels (Belgium), and elsewhere, Peter Pan plays a triple pipe one-handed, his arms and instrument outstretched.

Pietro Francavilla [Francheville, Francqueville, Pierre de; Belgicus]

Flemish sculptor active in Italy, representative of the classicising tendency of the second Mannerist school; became a partner of Giambologna in Florence; works include marble statues of mythical subjects; born Cambrai (1548), died Paris (1615).

• Mercury (1604), sculpture, Pietro Francavilla (1548–1615). Florence: Galleria Palatina, Sculpture Gallery. Ref. Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2002). As well as his snake-entwined caduceus, Mercury holds a conical duct flute. The beaked mouthpiece and the window/labium with a marked chamfer are clearly shown, with three finger holes visible above Mercury’s hand and two below. The bell end, quite broad, has a slightly raised protective ring. The holes are in line and equally spaced, suggesting seven in total, the lowest being quite close to the bell.

Baldassare Franceschini [il Volterrano]

Italian painter and draughtsman; considered to be the initiator and most important representative of the Baroque style in Tuscany; born Pisa, Volterra (1611), died Florence (1690); son of Guasparri Franceschini, a sculptor in alabaster.

• [Youth with a Recorder], drawing, Baldassare Franceschini (1611–1689). Florence: Galleria degli Uffizi. Ref. Archiv Moeck. A naked youth sits on a plinth holding a tenor recorder of tapering form with a slightly flared bell.
• Musical Angels (1644), fresco, Baldassare Franceschini (1611–1690). Detail, left. Detail, right. Florence: Chiesa Santissima Annunziata, Cappella Grazzi. Ref. Gregori (1990: 66–70); Paolo Biordi (pers. comm., 2002); Website: Ikonographie der Renaissanceflöte (2009, col.) Musical angels with their instruments above an ornate arch. One holds a shawm upside down. One holds a perfectly depicted one-piece recorder with a flared bell, the beak, window/labium and bottom five finger holes clearly visible, the lowermost offset. Another plays a near cylindrical one-piece recorder, the window/labium clearly depicted, the first two fingers of the uppermost (right) hand and the first three fingers of the lowermost hand covering their holes, the lowermost little finger lifted above its hole which is visible. A kneeling angel on the left holds a nautilus shell; a seated angel on the right holds an open book of music. Above a coat of arms, opposite, a trio of older angels, seated, play cornetto, cello and flute.
• Boy with Flute and Trumpet, painting, oval, Baldassare Franceschini (1611–1690). Location unknown. Ref. Universitatario Olandese di Storia dell’Arte Firenze, Special Photo Study Collections, Image 0005386 (2009, b&w). A young boy with a trumpet slung over his bare shoulder holds a soprano flared-bell recorder in his right hand. The instrument is perfectly depicted.

Marcantonio Franceschini

Italian painter and draughtsman; worked in Genoa, Modena, and Rome as well as in his native Bologna, and had patrons in Austria and Germany; made director of the Clementina Academy in Bologna in 1721; painted altarpieces and cabinet pictures and was exceptionally skilled at large-scale fresco decoration; born and died Bologna (1648–1729).

• Saint Cecilia, Marcantonio Franceschini (1648–1729). Montbrun les Bains: Église. Ref. Angelo Zaniol (pers. comm., 2004). St Cecilia plays the organ, surrounded by musical angels who sing and play violin and a duct flute, almost certainly a recorder, although only the head is visible.
• Bacchus and Ariadne (1772), soft-ground etching & stipple in sanguine, 29.0 × 26.5 cm, Captain William Baillie 1723–1810), after a drawing by Marcantonio Franceschini (1648–1729). London: Grosvenor Prints (2016, col.) Bacchus and Ariadne are transported upwards on a cloud by three figures, one playing a pipe, another a tambourine, the third holding a crown of stars above Ariadne’s head. The pipe has a flared bell and may well represent a recorder.

Vicenzo Franceschini (1680–1740), Italian

• Carlo Broschi (1734), engraving, Vicenzo Fraceschini (1680–1740). Royal Collection, Inv. RCIN 654315.  Ref. Wikimedia Commons (2015, col.) A bust of the famous castrato known as Farinelli. A trophy of musical instruments above and beside the portrait depicting a violin, several oboes, a small lute (or mandora), a harp and the head of a baroque recorder, an instrument often featured in Handel’s operas.

Pieter [Peeter] Franchoys

Dutch painter of portraits and religious subjects; born and died Mechelen (1606–1654); brother of the painter Lucas Franchoys II (1616–1681).

• Portrait of a Musician, oil on canvas 112.5 × 91.5 cm, Peeter Franchoys (1606–1654). The Hague: Gemeentemuseum. Ref. Buijsen & Grijp (1994); Bridgeman Art Library (2002: Image HGM81096, col.) A lutenist accompanies another man playing the flute. On a table before the lutenist is an open music book across which lies a cylindrical pipe, possibly a recorder.

Franciabigio [Francesco di Cristofano, Marcantonio Franciabigio, Francia Bigio, Francesco Giudini or Francesco Giudic]

Italian painter and frescoist of the Florentine Renaissance style who collaborated with Andrea del Sarto (on the frescoes in the Annunziata church in Florence), who was the dominant influence on his style; his best works are generally considered to be his introspective portraits; various works which have been ascribed to Raphael are now deemed to be by Franciabigio; born and died Florence (1482–1525).

• A Hand Pointing and a Hand Holding a Woodwind Instrument, drawing, Franciabigio (1482–1525). Florence: Galleria degli Uffizi, no. 6441F. Ref. McKillop (1974: fig. 52); Rasmussen (2005, Flute). “Recorder or flute” (Rasmussen (loc. cit.) Not seen.

Franz Franck

German graphic artist and painter attributed to the so-called “lost generation” who embraced expressive realism; his subjects included landscapes, still-lifes, portraits, social scenes, religious works; during the Nazi era, his art was considered ” degenerate”; born Kirchheim Teck (1897), died Marburg (1986).

• Young Woman with a Recorder (c. 1945), etching (1/10), Franz Franck (1897 – 1986). Ref. Website: “Ein Maler des Expressiven Realismus”, Franz Franck (2021, b&w). A woman with a lopsided mouth plays a lopsided tenor recorder of modern German design lopsidedly (i.e. right hand uppermost). Aber was bedeutet es?

Franz Friedrich Franck

German painter of religious works and portraits; born and died Augsburg (1627–1687); son of painter and etcher Hans Ulrich Franck (1603–1675).

• Vanitas (1663), oil on canvas, 95 × 125 cm, Franz Friedrich Franck (1627–1687). Augsburg: Städtische Kunstsammlungen, Inv. 6131. Ref. Munich RIdIM (1999: Ask 9); Website: Will Kimball, Trombone (2011, col.) On a table covered in an embroidered cloth are scattered books, music and a number of musical instruments including a sackbut, and a case with space for five different sized recorders. Four recorders are visible. At the left, the lower part of an alto is visible, with three finger holes and two little finger hole, and a slight flare at the the bell end. The recorder at the right has a fontanelle with a butterfly key and four finger holes showing; there is a marked flare, but the end of the bore is not visible. The end of a smaller recorder with a slight flare and bell expansion is visible immediately below. Under the case rests another instrument with a brass ring. This could be part of a basset recorder. Notes by Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 1999).

Pauwels Franck [Paul Franchoys or Paolo Fiammingo or dei Franceshi]

Netherlandish painter and draughtsman; active in Italy from 1573 where he worked as an assistant in Tintoretto’s workshop, specializing in landscape backgrounds; he remained based in Venice where he eventually opened a successful studio which produced landscape and figure compositions; although he painted many religious pictures, his reputation was based on a particular type of mythological fantasy derived from the example of Giorgione; born Antwerp (1540), died 1596.

• Allegory of Hearing or Allegory of Music, Pauwels Franck (1540–1596). Location unknown: Auctioned by Dorotheum 9 June 1999 (sold). Ref. Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie 18288 (2001); Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm. 2001); Gabrius Data Bank, OMP (2002, col.) Watched by a personification of Music and her handmaiden who sing from a music book, the Gods Apollo, Mercury and Pan and the Sirens make music on the banks of the stream Castalia on Parnassus. On an islet, in the middle of a lake, Apollo plays his lyre. On the shore to the left Pan plays the syrinx and Mercury plays a slender flared-bell tenor recorder, the paired lowermost finger holes clearly visible. On the shores of the lake, Sirens and possibly Muses sing and play lutes, harps, viols, trumpets and other instruments. At Music’s feet instruments lie scattered, including lute, viol, cornetto, and three recorders. Two recorders lie crossed; one has a characteristic flared foot; the other shows the beak and what looks like the beginnings of a fontanelle partly hidden beneath the lute. A third lies crossed beneath the cornetto, its window/labium just visible near Music’s sandal.
• The Five Senses (1582), Pauwels Frank (1540–1596). Dordrecht: Museum. Ref. Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2001). A personification of Hearing has her foot on a soprano recorder with a flute crossing it, a lute and cornetto beside it. She holds a lyre. The recorder has a clearly depicted window/labium, but only its two lowermost finger holes, the foot, and the flared bore of the bell are visible as the rest of the instrument is obscured.

Erica Franke [Erica Barton Franke; Erica Barton Haba]

Contemporary USAmerican artist who lives and works in Monterey, California; her series of 88 Monterey Christmas Angels were fashioned after the somewhat primitive style used by the priests in California missions to teach Christianity to Indians; These angels had brightly colored clothing, dark skin, and sombre expressions. They were restored in 1970 and ten new ones were commissioned in 1999. They have become something of a Monterey tradition. A number of them are shown holding musical instruments, including cello, cymbals, horn, drum, guitar, harp, lute, lyre, trumpet, violin, and a possible recorder. Photos of the angels by Miriam Grebe are sold as posters and Christmas Cards, and they have been reproduced in needlepoint.

• Angel with Recorder (1956 or 1971), painted wooden panels, ca 200 cm high, Erica Francke (contemporary). Monterey: City Council. Ref. Website: Monterey Christmas Cards (2007, col.) An angel with butterfly wings and an elaborate garment plays a conical pipe that looks more like a shawm than a recorder. The photographic card is marketed by Miriam Grebe as Angel with Recorder.

Frans I Francken

Flemish painter of large-scale commissions of religious subjects; also painted portraits and small-scale cabinet pictures; born Herentals (1542), died Antwerp (1616); father of Frans II Francken (1581–1642) and Hieronymous Francken (1578–1623), both artists.

• Adoration of the Shepherds, wood, ? × 165 cm, Frans I Francken (1542–1616). Mons: Église Sainte-Waudru. Ref. Leppert (1977: 49). Two shepherds hold bagpipes and a duct flute (no finger holes visible).

Frans II Francken [Franck]

Flemish painter, the most important member of the Francken family; works include altarpieces, painted furniture panels, and small cabinet pictures with historical, mythological, or allegorical themes; his early paintings of ‘monkeys’ kitchens’ (allegorical scenes of human vice, such as smoking and gluttony, enacted by monkeys) set the direction for Jan van Kessel and Teniers; born and died Antwerp (1581–1642); son of Frans Francken I (1542-1616).

• Earthly goods are the cause of mankind’s sin, print, Frans II Francken (1581–1642). Munich: Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, Inv. 10 601. Ref. Bernt (1948–1962, 4: 238); Munich RIdIM (1999: Mgs 832). Shows two wind instruments which could be either straight cornetti or recorders (no window/labium showing).
• Concert of the Muses, painting, Frans II Francken (1581–1642). Location unknown. Ref. Website: klassiskgitar.net (2007, col.); Website: Lute Iconography LI-966 (2023, col.) Sitting on a rock playing his violin, Apollo presides over the Muses who play various instruments, including organ, violin, two flutes, lute, cello, cornetto. In the foreground lie a globe, music books, a shawm, a lute, and what may be a recorder but only the foot and lower body of which is visible. Pegasus flies above.
• The Worship of the Golden Calf (ca 1630–1635), oil on panel, 56.8 × 86.3 cm, Frans II Francken (1581–1642). Cambridge: Fitzwilliam Museum, Object 262. Ref: Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. com., 2014); Website: BBC –Your Paintings (2014, col.) In the foreground of a spacious open landscape is a table covered with a white cloth and laden with meat and fruits, at which sit three couples of men and women carousing, scantily draped in gaily coloured garments. A servant brings a gold jar of wine, and there are other jars on the ground before them. Two musicians play vielle and a tenor recorder; the window/labium of the latter is clearly visible and the instrument has a fontanelle for the key that operates the lowermost hole. A little further off another group of revelers at a round table, behind and a little above the first, another group and on higher ground, still further off, more revelers at a table. To one of these, maidens dance around a golden calf that is raised on a tall column. On the right, the picture is shut in by thick trees, by steep green cliffs. In the centre is an open view over the green countryside to low hills. At the foot of a cliff stands Moses with the Tables of the Law on the ground before him, and another figure. In the biblical story, the Israelites ask Aaron, Moses’s brother, to give them idols to worship in his absence. The mountain in the background alludes to Mount Sinai, which Moses climbed to receive the tablets of the Ten Commandments from God.
• Diana and her Nymphs (c. 1606), oil on copper, 50.0 × 66.5 cm, Frans II Francken (1581–1642). Vienna: Dorotheum, Sale 17 October 2017, Lot 34. Ref. Website: Lute Iconography, Image LI-2019 (2023, col.) This extraordinary nocturnal scene depicts the lunar goddess Diana as a divine trinity associated with fertility, hunting, and witchcraft. She is rendered almost completely nude on the banks of a streamlet. She is identified by the crescent moon on her head and wears her long hair down which is unusual for the period. She is surrounded by bathing nymphs who were her traditional entourage. A luxuriously dressed woman is shown sitting next to her, her generous décolleté revealing her to be less prudish than she probably first appears to be, while musical instruments are scattered at her feet. Near the right margin, a young woman looks as if she is about to undress, following the example of another seated female figure behind her, who is already naked and in the process of stripping off her stockings. Another figure who is turning her back to us is about to rid herself of a white undergarment. From the opposite side on the left bank, this highly unusual scene is observed by two women in precious period costumes accompanied by their dogs. The table is opulently laid with dishes also cherished by Francken’s contemporaries, such as ring cakes decorated with flowers, various pastries, poultry, oysters, and sweetmeat. In the dense forest background, hunters and their hounds are chasing a stag. Above the figures near the streamlet, putti are shown sprinkling flowers. The musical instruments are lute, harp, violin, shawm and tambourine (with pellet bells) and an ambiguous pipe which could represent a transverse flute or  duct flute (possibly a recorder). Art historian Klaus Ertz has suggested an attribution to Adriaen van Stalbemt (1580-1662) for this painting. 

Hieronymus [Jerome] Francken [Franck] II

Member of a Flemish dynasty of artists; worked in Antwerp and Paris, born and died Antwerp (1578–1623); son of Frans Francken I (ca 1542–1616).

• Scène de Bal, painting, Hieronymous Francken II (1578–1623). Troyes: Musée des Beaux-Arts. Ref. Christina Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2005). In the centre, two people dance, others are seated. The band comprises two lutes, a harp, and an alto-sized slender cylindrical pipe (possibly a recorder) played by a youngish man, all fingers down so no holes show (the first finger may be lifted). There is some bell flare, but within it the bore is quite narrow. The player’s lips and cheeks are relaxed. No window/labium is visible.

Anne François

French artist; born and died Troyes (1787–1846).

• Warrior in Roman Costume … (early 19th century), pencil drawing on card, 20.1 × 18.5 cm, Anne François (1787–1846). Troyes: Musée des Beaux Arts, Inv. D.45.7.603 Ref. Joconde Website (1999). Probably represents Louis XII on the field of battle, a study of one of the windows by Linard Gonthier made for L’Hotel de l’Arquebuse. Depicts a group of figures, including a soldier in antique armour. Musicians play duct flute (? three-holed pipe) and drum. Not seen.

Niccolò Frangipane

Italian painter, documented in Venice and Rimini; he painted for the churches of Venice and the Vento but his subjects also included allegorical and mythological scenes, especially bacchanalia; born Padua or Udine (1555), died Venice (1600).

• Young Man with a Recorder, oil on canvas, Niccolò Frangipane (1555–1600). Auxerre: Musée des Beaux Arts. Ref. Frings (1992: 123, fig. 10, b&w); Frings (1993: 149, fig. 9, b&w); Bridgeman Art Library (2003: Image (wrongly labeled) DGA510841, col.) An ermine-coated, hatted man with ringlets holds a flared-bell recorder with a bow tied around its decorated foot.
• Shepherd with Recorder (ca 1509–1510), oil on canvas, 51.5 × 47 cm, Niccolò Frangipane (1555–1600). Charlecote Park, Warwick, on loan from the collection of Sir Montgomery Fairfax-Lucy. Ref. Frings (1993: 149, fig. 8, b&w; 1999: 186, pl. 31, b&w); Website: gallica (2012, b&w). A bearded, ermine-coated, rather gaunt-looking man holds a cylindrical recorder, only the head and upper body of which are visible. There is an almost identical picture by Giovanni Giraolamo Savoldo (ca 1480–p. 1548) at Bowood House, Wiltshire (formerly attributed to Sebastiano Luciano/del Piombo (1485–1547)), but Frangipane’s musician wears a fine necklace, and the window of his recorder is politely turned away from us.
• Young Man Holding a Flute, oil on canvas, 42.5 × 31.5 cm,  Niccolò Frangipane (1555–1600). Luzern: Galerie Fischer Auktionen, June 2005. Ref. Website: gallica (2012, b&w). A curly-headed young man, his hat slung back over his shoulder, holds a soprano-sized cylindrical duct flute (flageolet or recorder). The beak and window/labium are half out of frame; and only four finger holes can be seen – others may be hidden underneath his hand.
• A Young Bearded Man with a Flute, oil on canvas, school of Niccolò Frangipane (1555–1600). Ref. Gabrius Data Bank, OMP (2001, col.) A bearded, ermine-coated young man wearing a fine necklace holds what has been taken to be a long cylindrical pipe in his right hand pointing forward with his right hand. However, no details of beak or finger holes are visible, and this seems much more likely to be a walking stick. Auctioned 17 April 1996 (Gabrius, loc. cit.)
• Allegory of Family Harmony, painting, Niccolò Frangipane (1555–1600). Location unknown. Ref. Meijer (1972-3: 98, fig. 3); Frings (1993: 145, fig. 4); Rasmussen (2007, Flute). Depicts five people in half-length, nearly all singing: three men, a woman, and a young boy. They stand around a table on which there are three open songbooks. The man at the left holds one of them up while keeping time with his other hand. The two male figures with plumed hats placed further back are holding a flute and a tenor-sized cylindrical recorder, without playing them.
• Bacchanale, oil on canvas, 90 × 120 cm, Niccolò Frangipane (1555–1600). Geneva: Wannenes, Sale: Dipintia Antichi, 5 March 2015, Lot 891. Bacchus presides over his followers who are gathered around a table on which lie an open music book, three bunches of grapes, a wine bowl, and a jew’s harp. A man in a jerkin and a crescent-shaped red hat plays the lute, and a man wearing a feathered hat holds what looks like a wind instrument of some kind, possibly intended to be a recorder. A sly-looking man has his hand on Bacchus’ shoulder. In the background are a man wearing a laurel wreath and a woman: only their heads are visible. A study for this painting was auctioned by Abell, Los Angeles, 25 August 2022, Lot 199, ink on paper, 25.4 x 36.2 cm.
• Bacchanale, oil on canvas, 44.5 × 107 cm, attributed to Niccolò Frangipane (1555–1600). Venice: San Marco, Sale: 2 November 2008, Lot 39. Ref. Wikimedia Commons (2014, col.) Bacchus and his companions are gathered around a table on which are a small barrel and a wine bowl, a book of music, a jews harp, and three bunches of grapes being pecked at by two birds. A bacchante wearing a laurel wreath and crimson toga holds a cat, a man in a jerkin and a crescent-shaped red hat plays a lute, and a man wearing a feathered hat holds a cylindrical duct flute, probably a recorder, though only four finger holes are visible. Bacchus leans on the wine barrel. The only woman present wears only a diaphanous and very revealing blouse. Another bird sits on a window-sill.
• Bacchanal, oil on canvas, 186.2 × 232.4 cm, attributed to Noccolò Frangipane (1555–1600). New York: Sotheby’s, Sale N08826, Old Master & 19th Century European Art, Including Property from The Forbes Collection: The Panorama of Champigny, 27 January 2012.,  Ref. Wikipedia Commons (2012, col.) Seated at a table, a leering Bacchus is surrounded by his friends of whom one plays the lute, another holds a small duct flute (possibly intended to represent a recorder), and a third a shawm. In the bottom right-hand corner a boy has a falcon on his wrist, and in the opposite corner, another restrains his dog who looks quite threateningly towards Bacchus.
• Allegory of Musical Inspiration (?1560s), Niccolò Frangipane (1555–1600). Celle: Archiv Moeck. Ref. Moeck, Celle: TIBIA – Musikbilder auf Postkarten, Series 2(1), No. 11102 (col.); Tibia 1/79 (1979); Moeck Renaissance Catalogue (1980); Slim (1985); Frings  (1992, 1993, col.) Formerly attributed to an anonymous Italian artist (ca 1520). A half-length figural composition depicting two men and two women around a table. The woman with the headscarf and floral wreath wears country clothes, as does the man with the fur-lined cape and broad-brimmed hat, festooned with flowers which characterize him as a shepherd. He gestures with one hand and holds a recorder in his other. Only the head of the second man is visible, crowned with a laurel wreath. The fair-haired woman looking out of the frame on the left is an elegant sophisticate, adorned with a jewelled brocade. The neck of her lute is wedged between herself and the shepherd. Opposite them is a hurdy-gurdy which lies on top of an open music book. There is no visual contact between the figures: the lady on the left regards the viewer whilst pointing to the music on the table; the shepherd glances upwards, regarded with concern by the woman on the right; the second man gazes out of the picture or possibly at the woman beside him. An anonymous copy of this, now lost, was formerly in the collection of A.S. Drey, Munich. (Borenius 1931; Frings 1993: 143, fig 2, b&w).
• Shepherd Couple (1562), painting, Niccolo Frangipane (1555–1600).  Vienna: Private Collection of W. Fridrich. Ref. Frings (1993: 146, fig. 5, b&w). A man and a woman embrace, a cylindrical recorder held between them. Only the upper part of the instrument is visible but the window/labium and first two finger holes are clearly depicted; it appears to be of alto size. This painting is closely related to the Allegory of Musical Inspiration at Celle. The pose and clothing of the shepherd are also found in the Celle painting, and the shepherdess can be recognized in the woman on the right. The figures in this painting are larger and the woman more richly dressed indicating that the woman in the Celle work is a reworking of the shepherdess seen here and thus that the Celle work was made at a later date (Frings, loc. cit.) Another version of this was auctioned at the Palais Dorotheum, Vienna, 10 December 2015, Lot 44.
• Autumn (1597), painting, Niccolò Frangipane (1555–1600). Udine: Civici Musei e Gallerie di Storia e Arte. Ref. Frings (1993: 150–152, fig 11, b&w). A shepherd sleeping outdoors – possibly Bacchus himself – has a recorder leaning against his left arm. The lower part of the instrument is hidden behind the drinking bowl, but the window/labium and four finger holes are clearly visible. Opposite the shepherd, his grinning companion wearing a leafy crown holds a ? melon in one hand and a drinking bowl in the other. Before the two are fruits of all kinds and a pitcher. This is Frangipane’s last dated work.

Jean-Pierre Freillon-Poncein

French oboist and composer active in the Dauphiné region of France; born 1665, died 1720.

• La véritable manière d’apprendre à jouer en perfection du hautbois, de la flûte et du flageolet, avec les principes de la musique pour la voix et pour toutes sortes d’instrumens [The true way to learn to play with perfection the oboe, recorder, and flageolet, with the principles of music for the voice and all kinds of instruments], Sons naturels pur toute l’etendue de la flutte [Table of fingerings for the recorder] (1700), Jean-Pierre Freillon-Poncein (1665–1720) Published by Jacques Collombat, Paris. Ref. Minkoff Reprint, Geneva (1972); Möhlmeier & Thouvenot (2002). One of three pages with stylised representation of a three-piece baroque recorder indicate fingerings for the alto recorder.

Albert Freyse (m.1652).

Painter and draftsman whose  subjects included portraits and  equestrian portraits; he entered the service of August the Younger in 1643; born Großenbehringen, died Wolfenbüttel (1652).

• The Court of August the Younger, Duke of Braunschweig-Lüneburg and his Family at a Viol Concert (1579-1666), painted c. 1647, Albert Freyse (m.1652). Loc. Brunswick: Braunschweig Landesmuseum. Ref. Lute Iconography, Image LI-2370 (2023,col.) Dating from the middle of the Thirty-Years’ War. In one corner of the room four women, two men and a boy play viols of at least three different shapes, seated around a table on which are music scores, an upturned lute and what appears to be a baroque alto recorder. In their midst a woman plays a spinet. The musicians all wear red clothing of one sort or another. In the centre of the room Augustus and members of the family sit around a table, some playing cards, other relatives and friends standing behind them. A hound stands in the foreground. Augustus II, a member of the House of Welf was Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. In the estate division of the House of Welf of 1635, he received the Principality of Wolfenbüttel which he ruled until his death. Considered one of the most literate princes of his time, he is known for founding the Herzog August Library at his Wolfenbüttel residence, then the largest collection of books and manuscripts north of the Alps. He was married three times and had an extended family.

Giovanni Girolamo Frezza (1659–1741) – see Sisto Badalocchio

Hans Fries

Swiss painter and draughtsman; the most important painter of religious art in early Renaissance Switzerland, he was a product of the late 15th-century school of the so-called Bernese Carnation Masters; known for his sly humour; born Freiburg (1460–1462), died Berne (p. 1518).

• Triptych: centre panel, Virgin Feeding the Child in a Glory of Angels (1500-1510), oil on panel, 74 × 22 cm, Hans Fries (1460/62–p. 1518). Venice: Civico Museo Correr. Ref. Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm.) The Virgin with the Child on her lap sits in the centre of a mandorla. An outer ring of angel musicians includes harp, lute, three recorders, vielle, portative organ, curved bladder pipe, two trumpets, horn, tromba marina and eight singers. The recorder trio is at the top in prime position! The lowest hand and bell are obscured by by the golden rays of the mandorla, except for two fingers of the lower (left) hand of the first angel. The position of the hands and thickness of the instruments suggests soprano/alto/tenor (or basset) recorders. The window/labium is clearly depicted in all three. An insert at the Virgin’s feet depicts Cain slaying Abel.

Jacob [Jakob] Andreas Fridich [Friedrich], the Elder

German engraver, etcher, draughtsman and publisher; he was a student of Christoph Weigel in Augsburg, where he spent his career and worked with Johann Georg Bergmüller; born Nürnberg (1684), died Augsbuirg (1751);  succeeded by his son of the same name (1714–1779).

• Title page of Gottlieb Muffat, Componimenti Musicali per il Cembalo (1739), Augsburg, engraving, Jacob Andreas Fridich, the Elder (1684–1751). Published by Johann Christian Leopold, Augsburg. Ref. Fraenkel (No. 141); Rasmussen (1999a). Putti in the lower right play bagpipe, hurdy-gurdy and a small, ribbed alp-horn in contrast to putti on the left playing guitar, violin, cello and recorder [?]. The frieze of musical instruments across the top includes a 1½ circle coiled horn.Despite its ultra-modest title, Muffat himself described the 1739 publication of his Componimenti Musicali as ‘the most beautiful product to be met with in all Germany’. It was patently one of the most lavish and cosmopolitan productions of all 18th-century music printing, with paper of large format and high quality, an extravagant title-page, meticulous and calligraphic engraving, prefaces in several languages and a dedication to the Holy Roman Emperor. It’s music was much plundered by Handel, in particular for his Ode for St Cecilia’s Day.

Alfred Downing Fripp

British artist who studied at The British Museum and The Royal Academy Schools from 1840 and began to exhibit from 1842 at the old watercolour society; born Bristol (1822), died London (1895); grandson of the artist Nicholas Pocock (1740–1821), a brother of the painter George Arthur Fripp (1813–1896), and father of the  surgeon Sir Alfred Downing Fripp (1865–1930).

• The Piping Shepherd (1870–1889), watercolour, Alfred Downing Fripp (1822–1895). London: Victoria & Albert Museum, Inv. 198-1886. Ref. Postcard: G 061462, Woodmansterne, Watford, WD1 8YW, England (1998, col.); MacMillan (2008: 134). On a chalk cliff-top before a lake a boy holds a small (soprano) recorder as if to play it. His dog looks up at him, perhaps imploring him not to. There is no doubt about the recorder which is of turned baroque design and played right hand uppermost, the thumb in ‘pinching’ position and the lowermost hole covered. At this date some British shepherd boys still wore traditional smocks, but they were of a greyish-brown colour known as ‘drab’, and would not have had matching hats. The boys made their pipes from whatever materials were to hand in the pastures, such as the hollow stems of reeds. The green smock and the baroque recorder in this painting owe more to the Aesthetic Movement, which was prominent at the time and which emphasised beauty, especially in historical form.

Jan [Johannes] Fris (1627/28– a. 1708), Dutch

• Still-life (1667), Jan Fris (1627/28–a. 1708). Location unknown: auctioned Berlin. Ref. Bernt (1969, 1: no. 291); Vroom (1980: no. 253); Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie ex Ruth van Baak Griffioen (pers. comm., 2003). On a table are a globe, an hourglass, papers, pamphlets, a clay smoking pipe, a watch, and a recorder only the flared foot of which can be seen sticking out from underneath some of the papers.
• Vanitas Still-life (a. 1672), oil on canvas, 67.4 × 61.0 cm, Jan Fris (1627/28–a. 1708). Paris: Maitre Alain Leroy, 28 March 2011, Lot 52; Munich: Hempel, 30 June 2011, Lot 232. Ref. Wikimedia Commons (2011, col.) On a draped table are a statue of Apollo, a plumed helmet, an hour-glass, a candle in a holder, shells, playing cards, a violin, a skull, papers, and a recorder. The beak, window/labium and four finger holes of the recorder are clearly depicted, but the foot is hidden beneath the skull.
• Vanitas, oil on canvas, 137.8 × 114.9 cm, Jan Fris (1627/28–a. 1708). London: Sotheby’s, 12 December 1984. Ref. Burlington Magazine (1986, 128: advert. p. ix, col.); Gemar-Koeltzsch (1995: 360, no. 129/6); Rasmussen (2002, Trumpet); Website: Wikigallery.org (2014, col.); Website: artnet (2016, col.)  Over a red cloth on a bench beside a pillar a number of vanitas objects lie jumbled together. They include a book, papers, a feathered helmet, the cranium of a human skull, a side drum and sticks, a bugle with a tassel, a violin and a cylindrical recorder. The latter is viewed obliquely and the lower body and foot are hidden behind the helmet, but details of the window/labium, beak and windway opening are very clearly depicted. Bubbles float above.
• Vanitas, oil on canvas, 47.0 × 56.5 cm, attributed to Jan Fris (1627/28–a. 1708). Location unknown. Ref. Gabrius Data Bank (2002, b&w.); Website: artnet (2016, col.) On a shelf lie two books (one with a ticket between the pages), a candlestick with candle, a violin and bow, the cranium of a human skull underneath which are an open music book and a soprano-sized hand-fluyt. The recorder’s beak and windway, window/labium, and finger holes are all clearly depicted, and a maker’s mark is visible immediately below the window/labium. Formerly attributed to Jacques de Claeuw (1623–p. 1694) by  Christies (Amsterdam), Sale 2394, Old Master Pictures, 9 November 1998, Lot 34.
• Vanitas, oil on canvas, 66 × 63 cm, attributed to Jan Fris (1627/8–a. 1708). Location unknown. Ref. Website: Schubertiade Music & Arts  (2016, col.) On a bench lie jumbled a globe, books (two open), a document with seals, the cranium of a human skull, an overturned glass roemer, a dancing master’s kit, and a recorder. The latter is partly hidden beneath the kit but the beak, window/labium, first three finger holes and flared bell are clearly visible. These are the attributes of a writer and musician, and suggest that worldly efforts are ultimately in vain. Currently offered for sale (November 2016).

William Powell Frith

English painter specialising in genre subjects, Shakespearian scenes and panoramic narrative works of life in the Victorian era; born Alfield near Rippon (1819), died London (1909).

• Claude Duval (1860), oil on canvas, 153.3 × 197.3 cm, William Power Frith (1819–1909). Detail. Manchester Art Gallery, Inv. 1917.270. Ref. W.R. Jacob & Co. biscuit tin lid (?date, hexagonal, col.); Website: Wikimedia Commons (2012, col.); Sugden (2015: dustjacket, col.); Website: Look at Paintings, Claude Duval (2017). “Scene depicting a group of highwaymen holding up the carriage of Lady Aurora Sydney carrying a young woman who has been made to dance with the captain of the band of men, Claude Duval, as part of her ransom. The event takes place on a bleak heathland road under a cloudy sky. In the centre of the composition are the dancing figures of captor and hostage: he stands masked, with his right arm raised, his left hand (holding a feathered cap) placed on his hip and his right foot pointed forward, facing away from the viewer; she stands forward-facing, holding her skirts out to the side, with her left foot pointed forward, an alarmed expression on her face. Behind them is the carriage containing the slumped figure of a young woman who has fainted and that of an old woman pleading with a highwayman; the driver of the coach has a pistol pointed at his head as one of the men cuts the harnesses of the coach-horses, to the right. Crouching near to the rear wheel of the coach, a highway man pauses from emptying the travellers’ possessions from a chest to take a bemused look at the dancers; another stands behind him prising open a small case with a knife. To the left of the composition, beneath a tree, is the standing figure of a highwayman playing a pipe or whistle to provide music for the dancers, with the elderly figure of a male hostage seated on a rock beside him, his hands tied behind his back as he watches the scene” (Manchester Gallery, loc. cit.)The ‘pipe or whistle’  is soprano-sized, the window/labium is clearly depicted, and the player’s hands and fingers are deployed perfectly for recorder playing with the hole for the smallest finger of the lowermost (left) hand clearly visible, so this is a recorder rather than a flageolet or other whistle. The gallery’s display label reads: “Claude Duval was a famous highwayman during the reign of Charles II. Frith paints one of Duval’s mocking acts of chivalry. Holding up a coach, he offered to forfeit the loot if a beautiful female passenger would dance with him. The gallows in the distance foretell his death. Frith went to great pains to achieve historic accuracy, consulting experts on costume and dance. Ultimately though, the drama was most important. He wrote: ‘I thought if I could succeed in retaining the beauty of the lady combined with the terror she would feel, I should perform a feat well worthy of achievement'”.
• Claude Duval (1863/4), engraved print on paper, 50 × 71 cm, Lumb Stocks (1812–1892) after William Power Frith (1819–1909).  London: Royal Academy of Art (04/2421); West Norwood, London: Roseberys, Auction 5 November 2011, Lot 598. See above for description of the scene depicted. The print was engraved in 1864 but not submitted to the publisher until the following year. Lumb Stocks (1812–1892) was a British engraver who produced prints of paintings by notable artists of the day. This example was submitted to the Royal Academy as Stocks’ diploma work.
• Claude Duval, (a. 1909), print on paper, engraving after William Power Frith (1819–1909). Manchester: Manchester Art Gallery, Inv. 1981.180. See above for description of the scene depicted. Although the Gallery hasn’t recorded the engraver it seems likely that it, too, was by Lumb Stocks.

Issac Fuller

English painter and engraver who trained in France and worked in Oxford and London. His works included portraits, religious and mythological subjects and decorative paintings; born 1606–1620, died London (1709); father of Issac Fuller the younger who worked mostly as a coach-painter.

• Sapienza humana: HUMANE WISDOM (1709), Issac Fuller (1606/20–1709). Iconologia or Moral Emblems by Cæsar Ripa … I. Fuller delin et fecit. Peirce Tempest excudit. Printed by Benj. Motte. MDCCIX. (1709: 67: fig. 267). Ref. Tempest (1709). The accompanying text reads:
  

  “FIG. 267. Sapienza humana: HUMANE WISDOM.
  A youth with four Hands, and four Ears; A Quiver by his Side, a Recorder in his right Hand, and a Lyre in the other, sacred to Apollo.
  The Hands denote Use and Practice, necessary to get Wisdom, beside Contemplation. The Ears, that to hear others is requisite. The Flute and Quiver, that one should not be too much taken in hearing Encomiums of oneself, nor unprovided, in case of Offense.”

  
  

  The recorder is an alto of baroque style with a flared bell.

  
  

  The Iconologia of Cesare Ripa (Roma, per gli heredi di Gio. Gigliotti, 1593) was conceived as a guide to the symbolism in emblem books. It was very influential in the 17th century and went through a number of editions. There were nine Italian editions (1593, 1603, 1611, 1613, 1618, 1625, 1630, 1645, 1764–1767) and eight non-Italian editions in other languages – French (1644, 1766), Dutch (1644,  1699), German (1704, 1760), English (1709, 1779). The text and the emblems included in these editions vary greatly, and later editions use Ripa’s idea, rather than following his text.

  
  
• Scandalo: SCANDAL (1709), Issac Fuller (1606/20-1709). Iconologia or Moral Emblems by Cæsar Ripa … I. Fuller delin et fecit. Peirce Tempest excudit. Printed by Benj. Motte. MDCCIX. (1709: 67: fig. 267). Ref. Website: Pennsylvania State University, The English Emblem Book Project: Iconologia or Moral Emblems by Cæsar Ripa. The accompanying text reads:
  

  “FIG. 268. Scandalo: SCANDAL.
  An old Man with open Mouth; a grey Beard, and his Hair finely curl’d; a Pack of Cards in his right Hand, and a Lute in the left; a Hautboy and a Music-book at his feet.
  Old Age denotes the more heinous Offence; open mouth, that he occasions Scandal, not only in Deeds but in Words. The Cards expos’d to every one’s Views is a manifest Scandal in an old Man especially, who should not give ill Examples to Youth.”

  
  

  On examination, the “Hautboy” depicted is clearly a baroque recorder with its characteristic beak and flared bell.

  
  

Bernardino Fungai

Italian painter whose works were characterized by the docility of the figures, a keen decorative sensibility in the use of colour and the treatment of drapery and landscape, and a pleasantly engaging narrative skill; born and died Siena (ca 1460–1516).

• Nativity, Bernardino Fungai (ca 1460–1516). Chiusi: Duomo. Ref. Bargagli-Petrucci (1907: 119, b&w; 1932: 116); Harvard University, Visual Collection, Fine Arts Library, 372.F963.22N[c]; Rasmussen (1999, Lute). “Angels play harp, lute, two woodwinds (recorder?, cornetto?) and tambourine” (Rasmussen, loc. cit.) Mary and Joseph kneel before the infant Jesus, flanked by two Saints. Behind them, a cow and a donkey look over a wicker fence. In the background are rolling hills and fields. Above, God the Father looks mightily pleased with himself surrounded by angel musicians playing a slender flared bell pipe (possibly a recorder), tambourine, harp and ? bagpipe. Five winged putti seated at God’s feet play what appear to be drums and small pipes, but the reproduction is far too vague to discern quite what they really are.
• Coronation of the Virgin (1500), Bernardino Fungai (ca 1460–1516). Siena: Chiesa di Santa Maria a Fontegiusta. Ref. Website: gallica (2012, b&w). Mary is crowned by Christ surrounded by angels and cherubim (winged heads). Some of the angels play musical instruments, amongst them harp, fiddle, trumpets, crotales, lute and a small conical pipe, possibly a recorder. Down below, in the real world, a cleric and three saints look sufficiently humbled. Between them, two winged putti gambol, oblivious to the wonders going on aloft – they are probably quite used to them.
• Coronation of the Virgin (1501), Bernardino Fungai (ca 1460–1516). Siena: Santa Maria dei Servi. Ref. Bacci (1947: after p. 94, pl. 11); Jacobsen (1910: pl. 1/2); Visual Collection, Fine Arts Library, Harvard University, 372.F963.31C1; Rasmussen (1999, Lute); Website: gallica (2012, b&w); Website: The Basilica of the Servants of Mary (2016, col.) “Angels play lute, harp, recorder (?) and cornetto (?). Putti play tambourine and cymbals” (Rasmussen, loc. cit.) Christ and Mary, framed by a dozen or so angel heads, are floating on a cloud above a Tuscan landscape. They are painted somewhat larger than the saints who surround them. Some of the latter are easily identified. In front at the left: Gregory the Great has the dove of the Holy spirit at his ear, and Catherine of Alexandria steadies her wheel. Behind them, Paul carries his sword, and John the Baptist points to the central figures. At the right: Appolonia holds a pair of pincers with a tooth, and Jerome holds his penitential stone to his breast. Directly above them, Peter rattles his keys and John Evangelist, his arms crossed, clasps a book. There are two possible recorders played by the angels in the top left- and right-hand corners respectively: both are very slender pipes with no detail visible.
• Assumption of the Virgin, Bernardino Fungai (ca 1460–1516). Siena: Pinacoteca Nazionale. Ref. Bacci (1947: pl. 2); Jacobsen (1910: pl. III/1); Visual Collection, Fine Arts Library, Harvard University, 372.F963.34[a]; Rasmussen (1999, Lute); Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2002). Musical angels cross the picture on each side of the Virgin. At the left they play harp, triangle and fiddle; at the right are two ? recorders, tambour and lute. The ? recorders are both alto-sized and slightly outwardly conical. The mouthpieces are well between the player’s relaxed mouths; there is no sign of a window/labium. Both angels play left hand uppermost but finger holes are visible under or between the fingers. The first has 7 finger holes, and the left thumb can be seen under the instrument. The second shows 8 finger holes! It also has an incised ring just above the foot, which has no flare.

Sebastian Furck [Fulcarus]

German engraver and portraitist; born Kastellaun/Hunsrück (1589), died Frankfurt (1655).

• Portrait of Johann Andreas Herbst (1635), engraving, Sebastian Furck (15891655). Published in Musica Poetica (1643). Ref. Fabbri (1964, 2: 461); Blume (1949–1963, 6: pl. 12); Angelo Zaniol ex Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2000). A decorative border around the oval-shaped portrait with festoons of musical instruments comprising lute, violin, cello, cornetti, trumpet, sackbut, harp, and cylindrical recorders of various sizes including a basset with a bocal. Johann Andreas Herbst (1588–1666) was a German composer and music theorist of the early Baroque era. He was a contemporary of Michael Praetorius and Heinrich Schütz and, like them, assisted in importing the grand Venetian style and the other features of the early Baroque into Protestant Germany.

Francesco Furini

Italian artist, amongst the leading Florentine painters of his day; famous for the ambiguous sensuality and sfumato effects of his many paintings of female nudes, but also painted religious subjects; born and died Florence (1604–1646).

• A Young Flautist, oil on canvas, 79 × 58 cm, oval, attributed to Francesco Furini (1604–1646). Auctioned: Old Master Paintings, Dorotheum, Vienna, 10–22 March 2001, Lot 11. Ref. Website: International Auctioneers (2006, col.) A rather sensual-looking youth in side profile holds a slender, ambiguous, flared-bell pipe as if about to play it. No details of finger holes, beak or window/labium can be discerned. From the title it is probably meant to represent a duct flute, possibly a recorder.

Jan [Johannes] Fyt [Fijt]

Flemish painter, draughtsman and etcher who worked in Paris, Venice and Antwerp; a versatile still-life specialist, he was better known as one of the leading animaliers of the 17th century, known for his refined depictions of animals and his lush hunting pieces; born and died Antwerp (1611–1661).

• [Amorous Shepherds] (1626–1661), oil on panel, 106 × 74 cm, Jan Fyt (1611–1661). Brussels: Galerie Georges Giroux, 3–5 May 1927, Lot 344. Ref. Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie 17410 (2010, b&w); Anthony Rowland-Jones (pers. comm., 2001). The wreathed shepherd may be holding a pipe (possibly a recorder) while he kisses his companion.

Cite this article as: Nicholas S. Lander. 1996–2024. Recorder Home Page: Artists–F. Last accessed 24 November 2024. https://recorderhomepage.net/recorder-iconography/artists-f/