The work, executed by Diego de Velázquez during his early period, belongs to a genre of genre painting that Pacheco nevertheless described as “ridiculous figures with various ugly subjects to provoke laughter”. The men with musical instruments sing while the third, the youngest, who carries the vihuela under his arm with a glass of wine, calls attention to himself with a mocking smile, implying that the spirituous concoction is what inspires the musicians. The monkey, on his back, was a typical animal companion at the time. The setting for the musicians’ performance would indicate the presence of a table with a loaf of bread on a napkin, wine, cheese and a knife before them, which Velázquez uses to study the different textures with an intense, projected light that evokes the classical concepts of chiaroscuro. Special attention should be paid to the fact that paintings of this type were executed during the painter’s first period in his native city, which would tell us about the way Sevillian society functioned at the beginning of the 17th century.

Collection: Images

Project: 11. Science and culture as representation in Europe.

Chronology: XVII

Scope: Secondary Education, Baccalaureate

Link: https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/the-three-musicians-diego-vel%C3%A1zquez/VgG9uyYlMjQ8DQ

Resource type: Image

Format: Oil on canvas (87x110 cm)

Source: Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlín (Berlín, Alemania)

Language: English

Date: 1618

Owner: Álvaro Romero González (Modernalia)

Copyright: Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlín

Abstract: Musical genre scene in the playful interiors of 17th century Spain by Velázquez

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