The Psalterion Signed and dated 1868
Oil on canvas | 130.3 x 87.3 x 2.4 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 406569
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The painting shows a young man in early sixteenth-century costume - slashed trunk hose and white shirt - playing on a psalterion or psaltery, a stringed, harp-like instrument. He is leaning against a wall beside a balcony overlooking a town. Doré's biographer, Blanche Roosevelt, described this as one of the most lovely works Doré had painted.
In the Art Journal of 1st August 1870 it was reported that Queen Victoria had purchased this painting of 'a youth playing on a quaint stringed instrument of deal, to the dreamy beauty and original character of which...we were among the first to call attention.' The short article also reports that the Doré Gallery was honoured by a royal request to take the artist's Christian Martyrs to Windsor for the Queen's examination, 'and we are informed that her Majesty expressed warm admiration of this beautiful picture.'
In a letter to Canon Harford, 27 July 1870, Doré expresses his agitated emotions concerning his country's war with Prussia, but is nevertheless excited at the hounour of having just sold this picture to Queen Victoria, to whom he sent thanks via Sir Henry Ponsonby.
Signed and dated: 'GveDoré / 1868'. Inscribed on the back with the name of the artist, the date and the title and the initials 'J.L.F.'Provenance
Purchased by Queen Victoria from the Doré Gallery in 1870
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Medium and techniques
Oil on canvas
Measurements
130.3 x 87.3 x 2.4 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)
165.3 x 122.7 x 8.3 cm (frame, external)
Category
Object type(s)