A Musical Party
- Artist: Jacob van Velsen
- Date: 1631
- Medium: oil on wood
- Museum: The National Gallery
- Collection record: The National Gallery website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is "A Musical Party" by Jacob van Velsen. Painted in the early 1630s, this painting is a great example of the Merry Companies genre that was very popular in Holland at the time. The artist has used a shaft of bright sunlight to give the composition a clear structure and bring sharpness and life to the details.
Notice how the artist has restricted himself to just two key colours – luminous yellows and vibrant pinks – which glow and shimmer against the cool, shadowy greys of the background. This gives the painting a sense of clarity and order.
But while the composition is carefully structured and coloured, the meaning of the painting is much less clear. Is it simply a celebration of a happy company enjoying their music-making? Or are we meant to read into it some moralising allusions about the perils of alcohol, smoking, and sexual temptation? The presence of both red and white wine in the cooler on the floor and the shadowy smoker in the foreground suggest that van Velsen may have been hinting at a potential threat to the peace and order that the musicians currently enjoy.
See it in person
A Musical Party hangs in The National Gallery on Trafalgar Square, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
