Musical Group on a Balcony

Gerrit van Honthorst

1622

Oil on panel, Oil

J. Paul Getty Museum

A group of people on a balcony are playing music and singing, with a dog and a parrot present. The scene is viewed through a balustrade. Smiling, singing figures gather around a balcony to play musical instruments, inviting the viewers below to join in the fun. The revelers' facial expressions and bright colorful clothes heighten the festive, carefree mood. A parrot and a dog, gazing down from their perches, round out the merry group. Possibly part of an allegory of Harmony, the painting may have originally been slightly wider and twice as long, containing a complete balustrade and more figures. The head of the man at the top is a modern addition. Gerrit van Honthorst painted this illusionistic ceiling, the earliest of its type made in the Netherlands in 1622, two ye