#harp lute

[treasures-and-beauty]

Harp-lute by Edward Light, ca. 1816 England

[acrosscenturiesandgenerations]

▪Harp Lute. Maker: Edward Light (British, London ca. 1747–ca. 1832 London) Date: ca. 1815 Place of origin: London, England, United Kingdom Culture: British Medium: Wood, lacquered and gilded.

[taciturn-nerd]

Trick or treat! 🐈‍⬛

You get a harp lute! Not as popular as the pianoforte but still played by many regency ladies!

If you've submitted an ask, your treat is in the queue!

[kpellinore]

While I watched this, I was thinking “what does this instrument have over an actual harp? It doesn’t sound as nice, and there is no fretboard that I can see. She is basically playing the harp.”  But then I read in the description that these instruments were (when built around 1815) “intended for harp players to take on 'The Grand Tour' and as a portable Harp”.  Interesting! 

[books0977]

Kitty Stephens, playing a harp lute (early 19th century). George Henry Harlow (English, 1787-1819). Oil on canvas.

Stephens (later Countess of Essex, 1794-1882) made her Covent Garden début as Mandane in Arne's Atraxerxes (the first attempt to set a full-blown opera seria libretto in English) on 23 September 1813 and the great success with which she was received invited comparison with Angelica Cantalani and Elizabeth Billington.

[books0977]

Lady with a Harp Lute (1811). Pietro Nocchi (Italian, c.1783-c.1855). Oil on canvas. Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle. 

The sitter represented holding a harp lute probably belonged to the entourage of Napoleon's sister, Elisa Baciocchi. The Princess of Lucca and Piombino, later Grand Duchess of Tuscany, was a patroness of musicians, composers and painters, such as Nocchi, who also portrayed other members of Napoleon's family. The furniture is decorated in the Empire style.