A Franco-Flemish double-manual harpsichord, originally a transposing harpsichord made in Antwerp in 1617, and then ravalé in Paris, possibly by François Étienne Blanchet in 1750, and then in stages by Jacques Barberini, Paris, c.1775 and by Nicolas Hoffman, 1786.

 

 

A view from the bentside of the instrument

 

 

          This photograph gives a good idea of the splendour of this harpsichord.  The inside and the outside of the case are decorated on a ground of thick gold leaf with oil paintings on top of the gold, a process known in the eighteenth century as ‘vernis martin’.  The inside of the lid is a sylvan landscape with groups of figures engaged in rural activities. The author of this landscape has yet to be determined, but it exhibits may of the features of mid-eighteenth-century Parisian artists.  The author of the paintings of the putti engaged in a 'Triumph of love' is not yet known, but it may also be François Boucher.  The outside of the case and the inside of the lid have now been cleaned and, once restored, should look particularly brilliant and beautiful.

         The stand is very fine and beautifully carved and gilded.  Like the case of the instrument it has been widened to accommodate the compass extension of 1786.  This strongly suggests that the stand, in a high roccoco style, is contemporary with the outer-case decorations and paintings of 1750.  The height of the stand is greater than normal and raises the instrument into a slightly higher playing position than normal.

 

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

 

 A problem encountered in the ethical restoration of this harpsichord

 

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