Music & Art in the Age of Vermeer
Music & Art in the Age of Vermeer
Lecturer: Adam Busiakiewicz
Musical instruments are found throughout the paintings of the Dutch Golden Age. Despite this, knowledge of their symbolic meaning, and how they sounded to their original participants, is often lost on modern audiences. The associations of music with love and intimacy, enlivened by the sound quality and tone of the instruments of the period, help unravel their meaning. From Jan Steen’s brothel scenes to the solemn interiors of Vermeer and Pieter de Hooch, this lecture charts the vast meaning and rich significance of music in Dutch art.
Adam Busiakiewicz is an Art Historian, Lecturer and Lutenist. After completing his Bachelor’s Degree in History at University College London in 2010 he held the position of Head of Historical Interpretation (curator) at Warwick Castle. He left the castle in 2013 to pursue a Master’s Degree in Fine and Decorative Art at the Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London. He is currently finishing his doctorate in Art History at the University of Warwick for which he received a full scholarship. Adam is also a Lecturer / Educator at the National Gallery and Guide Lecturer at the Wallace Collection, where he has organised several events and courses on Music & Art as well as other subjects. He has also given talks and performances at the Royal Collection, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Sotheby’s Institute of Art. Alongside his publications and scholarly articles, Adam is the co-editor of arthistorynews.com, one of the internet’s most popular art history blogs.