A Franco-Flemish double-manual harpsichord, originally a 'transposing' harpsichord made in Antwerp in 1617 by an unknown maker.  It was given a bass ravalement in Paris sometime between 1742 and 1750.  Then, in 1750, it received a major alteration when it was given a bass ravalement and a peau de buffle register by François Étienne Blanchet.  At this date is was also lavishly decorated by Christophe Huet and by an exceptional artist working in the style of François Boucher, court painter to Louis XV.   Later is was given a treble ravalement and a genouillère in 1786 by Jacques Barberini and Nicolas Hoffmann.

 

This section of this site deals with the history and restoration of a stunningly-beautiful double-manual harpsichord.  The instrument was originally made in Antwerp in 1617, and was then subjected to a series of major ravalements including a total re-working by François Étienne Blanchet, Paris, in 1750.  The latter ravalement may have been commissioned by Mme. de Pompadour for Louis XV. 

The harpsichord was then given a further ravalement in 1786,  which added a genouillère by the Parisian makers Jacques Barberini and Nicolas Hoffmann

Its decoration is one of the finest of any surviving harpsichord, and it also has an exceptionally fine, rich, resonant sound, as beautiful to the ear as the decoration is to the eye.  This sound makes it ideal for the mid- to late-18th-century French- harpsichord repertoire.

 

 

Click on the images and links below and at the bottom of this page to see

 more images and detailed information about this splendid instrument.

 

This harpsichord is highlighted in the New Boalch-Online Website: https://boalch.org/Instruments/InstrumentProfile/1617

 

          This stunningly-beautiful double-manual harpsichord started life as a so-called 'transposing' harpsichord made in Antwerp in 1617 by an unknown maker.  Then, much later during the second half of the eighteenth-century it was given a series of ravalements in Paris in several stages.  These alterations and the decorations carried out at the same time were carried out by some of the most important and famous French harpsichord makers and artists in the period from about 1742 - 1786.  At some date between 1742 - 1750 the first grand ravalement widened the case on the bass side, extending the bass compass down to F1 In 1750 it was given its exceptionally lavish decoration by François Boucher and Christophe II Huet.  In 1750 it was given a treble extension up to d3 by François Étienne Blanchet, who later became the court harpsichord maker to Louis XV.

          It seems highly likely that it was given its extravagant decoration because of its amazing sound and it is, indeed, still today one of the finest-sounding instruments in the history of French harpsichord making.  It may have played an important role in the social and musical life of the French Court at the time of Louis XV. 

 

The instrument has also had an amazing recent history ranging across much of Western Europe, the United States and South America.   It turns out to be a very important document in the history of the modern revival of interest in the harpsichord and its music.  It was restored by Louis Tomasini in Paris shortly before 1889 and was played in the concerts given by Louis Diémer during the great 1889 Exposition Universelle for which the Eiffel Tower was built.  Its modern history involves some very important figures who influenced major world events - not necessarily involving music nor furniture decoration!

 

This instrument is of the highest historical and musical importance for a number of reasons:

  1. This instrument is a very rare example of a surviving NON-RUCKERS double-manual harpsichord that is still in excellent playing condition:  it may even be unique in this respect!  It was originally made in Antwerp in 1617, but not by one of the members of the Ruckers/Couchet family.  No other non-Ruckers seventeenth-century Antwerp harpsichord is known in such excellent condition and with such a rich, pure, powerful sound.  The sound is sonorous, resonant and evocative of the period and circumstances in which the instrument had its heyday in the Court of Versailles particularly during the period around 1750.  It has a never-to-be-forgotten sound!  Indeed, the sound of the instrument can only be described as superb!  Experts agree that it has a power, clarity and beauty unmatched by any other extant eighteenth-century French harpsichord or French ravalement harpsichord.  The quality of the sound of this harpsichord has even forced me to re-assess the widely-held opinion about the sound of a genuine Ruckers/Couchet harpsichord.  To me this means further that the relative position of the Ruckers/Couchet family in the history of the harpsichord will now, as a result of the emergence of this harpsichord, also have to be re-assessed as well.

  2. As mentioned above, the harpsichord has survived in remarkably good condition and various features of its past history are still clear and evident. These features show that the harpsichord underwent a number of different compass and disposition changes.  It was given a bass grand ravalement which can be dated, from features of the lid decoration and the dating of the surviving jacks, to the period between 1745 and 1750.

  3. Like the ravalement, most of the surviving decorations of the instrument were carried out between c.1745 and 1750.  There are two large groups of figures painted on the outside of the lid and the outside of the lid flap, both of which are clearly in the painting style of Francois Boucher.  For many reasons they can be confidently attributed to him.  Boucher was the Court painter to Louis XV, and there is a number of reasons for believing that the ravalement and decoration of this instrument were commissioned for the French Court by Madame de Pompadour, Louis XV's grande maitresse.  Two of the principal female figures painted on the outside of the main lid of and lid flap are undisguised images of Mme de Pompadour.  A fourth reclining female figure was painted in a period contemporary with the rest of the decoration, but then the painting of the face of this fourth figure was altered, probably in 1752 when Marie-Louis O'Murphy became Louis' favourite petite maîtresse.  It seems clear that, just as the paintings of Diana and Flora are portraits of Mme de Pompadour, the third figure represents Marie-Louise O'Murphy.

  4. The painting of the exterior decoration is, however, in two clearly distinguished hands.  The four figures mentioned above are clearly all by Francois Boucher.  But the decorative ornaments surrounding the Boucher-style figures can further be positively attributed to Christophe I1 Huet (1700- 1759).  However, there are also putto figures ornamenting the case sides and front flap, and these are also in the style of Christophe Huet and have also been attributed to him.  The decorations on the spine of the case and on the inside of the front flap are lacking any images of putti, but can also be confidently attributed to Huet.  Two of the large trophies of musical instruments on the spine have been attributed to Antoine Watteau (1684-1721).

  5. The instruments was given a further alteration, probably without widening the compass, in 1750 by Francois Étienne Blanchet (1695 - 1761), perhaps, indeed at the same time as the decoration of the case by Boucher and Huet.  Francois Blanchet was the Court harpsichord builder to Louis XV.

  6. Having served its time at the Court of Louis XV, the instrument went through a second grand ravalement in 1786 extending the treble compass to give it a full five-octave compass and, with the addition of a genouillère and peau de buffle register, it then had all of the features necessary for the performance of the whole of the great French eighteenth-century literature for the harpsichord.  It can therefore play all of the works of Francois Couperin, Jean-Phillipe Rameau, Gaspard Le Roux, Mondonville and Jean-Baptiste Forqueray.

  7. The instrument played an important role at the French eighteenth-century Court, but then took a further important place in the modern revival of interest in the harpsichord.  It was owned by many of the most important figures active in the revival of interest in the harpsichord at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries including Louis Tomasini, .

  8. Later in the twentieth century, the instrument passed through the hands of some of the most interesting, colourful and destructive figures associated with the harpsichord revival of the mid-twentieth century.   It did, however, unfortunately suffer under the hands of some of these ill-informed, un-enlightened modern harpsichord 'restorers'.

 

Click on the images links listed below for information about the history of the instrument.

 

 

Important Features of this harpsichord

 

A brief history of the musical and decorative states of the Franco-Flemish harpsichord

 

Details of the original state of the instrument

 

Details of the eighteenth-century states of this harpsichord

  

 Details of the modern history of this harpsichord

 

 

 

Click on the images and links below for information about the decorative history of the instrument.

 

 

The harpsichord viewed from the bentside

The harpsichord viewed from the spine

The harpsichord stand

The spine side of the instrument

The painting on the outside of the lid

Reclining nude by François Boucher

The painting on the inside of the lid

Detail of the inside lid painting 1

Detail of the inside lid painting 2

The keywell

A plan view of the instrument

The gilt hardware

The genuine Ioannes Ruckers HR rosette

A detail of a foot of the stand

The Tomasini decorations

Detail of the centre of the front flap

Detail of the cheek painting

Detail of the bentside painting 1

Detail of the bentside painting 2

Detail of the bentside painting 3

 

Detail of the bentside painting 4

Details of the tail painting

Click on this image to see details of the 1927 Sotheby's  sale catalogue.

 

 

 

         
The sections below relate to the scientific studies of the paintwork and decoration and to how these relate to the attribution of the various states and OF THE painter/decorators who worked on this instrument

The construction and  numbering of the extant jacks

The attributions of the 1750 state 

The possible attributions to Boucher

A possible ownership by the

royal French court.

Some important personalities in the French court around 1750.

The following 4 images on the right all show clear evidence of the work of Christophe II Huet in the decoration of the instrument.

Detail of the spine decoration 1

Detail of the spine decoration 2

Detail of the spine decoration 3

Detail of the spine decoration ends

 

The examination under UV light

Detail of the head of the central putto

Discussion of the painting restoration

 

 

The ravalement by François Étienne Blanchet, and the decoration of this instrument by Christophe II Huet and François Boucher.

 

 

 Problems encountered in the ethical restoration of this harpsichord

 

 Examples of Huet decorations

 

 

This harpsichord is for sale

 

 

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This page was last revised on 27 October 2023.