Violin Player Seated in the Inn (1685): Art, History and Details

Violin Player Seated in the Inn (1685) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Cornelis Dusart (Dutch, 1660–1704).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This tavern scene has all the elements of a good time: music, merrymakers, and abundant alcohol. The seated man with raised arms holds a pole glass, meant for passing around among drinkers. A standing figure on the right draws our eye. Dressed in an elegant waistcoat, drink in hand, he observes with a note of amusement. His figure recalls Silenus, Bacchus’s teacher, who appears in numerous mythological scenes in this exhibition. Like Silenus, he encourages viewers to consider wine’s impact on those without self-control. The Latin verses describe the “rustics” depicted, drawing a comparison between their behavior and the viewer, who was assumed to be of a higher social class.

Object facts

• Title: Violin Player Seated in the Inn
• Date: 1685
• Creator attribution: Cornelis Dusart (Dutch, 1660–1704)
• Culture: Netherlands
• Type: Print
• Technique: etching
• Dimensions: Platemark: 28.1 x 25 cm (11 1/16 x 9 13/16 in.); Sheet: 29.6 x 26.1 cm (11 5/8 x 10 1/4 in.)
• Collection: PR - Etching
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1943.562

A detail from the museum

The broadsheet above the hearth is titled "Tulips and Hyacinths" in Dutch. The cultivation and export of these flowers was an important part of the Dutch economy in the 1600s.

Collection credit

Mr. and Mrs. Lewis B. Williams Collection

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.