Project 2---The Process of Forming Narrative

As the name of the painting is called: The Music Lesson, music is undoubtably the constant element that runs through the whole painting.
The virginal was an instrument greatly admired by the Dutch upper class during the mid-17th century. The lyrics that often accompanied the music extolled love, both human and spiritual, and the solace that could be gained from it. The text on the lid of the virginal in this painting reads: Music: companion of joy, balm for sorrow.
It is worth of appriciating Vermeer's the balance and harmony of its music or the elegance and refinement of the world to which it belonged. In this painting, an attentive gentleman assists a young woman with her sheet music. A painting of Cupid on the rear wall affirms that the contact between the two is amorous, the relationship of this image of Cupid to an emblem , which stresses the importance of taking but one lover, establishes the moral tenor of the scene. Similarly, the man who is so transfixed by the music in the Music Lesson is almost certainly not a music master, and his presence must be otherwise explained. He is an aristocratic gentleman, perhaps a suitor. Music here is used metaphorically to suggest the harmony of two souls in love.

Vermeer virtually eliminated the narrative, the woman is seen derectly from behind. Her hands and music are obscured from the viewer. her face, partially turned toward the gentleman, is only dimly visable in the mirror hanging before her. Thus Vermeer emphasized less the specifics of the woman and her music than the abstract concepts her music embodies: joy, harmony in love, solace.

Initially, the girl's body was sllightly turned away from the man, but her head was twisted back in his direction, the man further forward and leaning more attentively toward the woman. These adjustments were subtle but crucial. In both instances Vermeer transformed the figures form active poses to restrained and statuesque ones, and as a consequence emphasized less their transitory interaction than the permanent character of their relationship. the effect is to draw them more fully into harmony with their carefully ordered environment and to convey the powerful lasting effects of music upon the soul. By retaining the original image of the woman in the reflection in the mirror, Vermeer extended that moment in yet another way. Her reflected image reinforces the sense of the figures' communion with each other and adds a dimension of warmth that infuses that entire painting.