Bagpipe Player
1624 National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
About this artwork
An oil-on-canvas portrait of a bagpipe player in profile, characteristic of the artist's Caravaggesque style. The painting demonstrates dramatic lighting and a focus on mundane, genre subjects typical of the Dutch Golden Age.
Did you know?
Hendrick ter Brugghen was a leading figure of the Utrecht Caravaggisti, a group of Dutch painters who traveled to Rome and adopted the dramatic lighting and stark realism of Caravaggio. By choosing a lowly bagpipe player as his subject, ter Brugghen elevated common, street-level figures to the status of serious art, reflecting the changing artistic tastes of the 17th-century Netherlands.
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Bagpipe Player
Hendrick ter Brugghen, 1624
