The Organ Player and His Wife (1495/1503): Artwork and History

The Organ Player and His Wife (1495/1503) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Israhel van Meckenem the Younger German, c. 1440/45-1503.

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

Here a couple making music in a comfortable interior is an image of harmony. The wife assists the husband by working the bellows of the portative organ, and her open mouth suggests that he is accompanying her song. This is one of a series of six engravings by Meckenem showing couples engaging in music making, card playing, and other pastimes in domestic settings. The engraver elaborated on the household details with particular care, delineating a curtained bed, a built-in cupboard open to show a basin and covered cup, and an extendable table holding the organ. Above the wife’s head is a convex mirror, which was still a luxury item in 1500.

Object facts

• Title: The Organ Player and His Wife
• Date: 1495/1503
• Artist attribution: Israhel van Meckenem the Younger German, c. 1440/45-1503
• Place of origin: Germany
• Medium: Engraving on buff laid paper
• Dimensions: 16.5 × 10.9 cm (6 1/2 × 4 5/16 in.)
• Type: Print
• Department: Prints and Drawings
• Reference number: 1956.852

Collection credit

Bequest of Mrs. Potter Palmer, Jr.

View the original

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The description above is credited to the Art Institute of Chicago and reused under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0; HTML formatting has been converted to plain text. Other catalogue metadata and the public-domain image are provided under CC0 1.0.