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Servir Antico's

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a Voyage into the Organology & Imagination of the long Renaissance

By Catalina Vicens

In line with ensemble Servir Antico, my purpose is to bring the work of creative and visionary minds from the past (in form of music, literature and art) to the the spotlight and to transform it into inspiration for the future.

The idea here is to share musical images found in manuscripts, prints, paintings and sculpture as part of their artistic and functional context. In this site I don’t want to take the place of an art historian, and although I use iconography and organology as part of my research, it is not the intention of this site to serve as a form of research output.

There is religious related content in this site, but it does not serve any particular religious view.

Catalina Vicens

Pastime with good Companye - The 'Golf Book'

Pastime with good Companye - The 'Golf Book'

The 'Golf Book' was illustrated by the Flemish artist Simon Bening, "the leading master of illumination in the 16th century". In this book of hours, we get a glance at intimate scenes of courtiers and their use of music for recreation. 'Pastime with good companye', that famous song by Henry VIII, seems to be an adequate title to frame these scenes. Men and women enjoying a good time, accompanying a delightful afternoon in the river with the plucked harmonies of the lute and t

The Sforza Hours - 2 / 'In Principio...'

The Sforza Hours - 2 / 'In Principio...'

The 'Sforza Hours' doesn't cease to delight with its vibrant colors, cute animals and fascinating instruments. After the 1st post showing some of the musical scenes and other curious images of this book (February 21, 2017), I post here some images that show the variety and diversity of specimens that the Sforza family must have been acquainted with during the turn of the 16th century. Not only suggestive bunnies and cats, but also precious birds, ferrets and leopards adorn th

David's search for harmony- 'The Rutland Psalter'

David's search for harmony- 'The Rutland Psalter'

This mid-13th century psalter's first full-page illustration opens with King David's eyes fixed on me, the viewer. As if he was about to tell me something very important, he stares and at the same time I notice that his attention is in the act of listening: he is tuning his harp, David's harp. Around him, the scene is not that intimate. Angels fall, men engage in fight while being threatened by wild beasts. Bellow: "beatus vir qui non habiit..." or Blessed is the man who walk

Sounding legends - the 'Romans Arthuriens'

Sounding legends - the 'Romans Arthuriens'

Among battlefields and love stories, the cycle of King Arthur’s legends written down in this 800-folio ‘Romans Arthuriens’ (c.a 1270-1290), is decorated with humorous legends of animals, monsters and angels with musical instruments. With a predilection for bagpipes, trumpets, harps, fiddles, gitterns and few portative organs, the artist of this French manuscript (possible from St-Omer) uses recurrent imagery: the figures blend-in with the marginal ornamentation and many of th

Like singing elephants from the moon

Like singing elephants from the moon

There is something ephemeral and surreal in the imagery created on white substance. The fact that these precious mediums have been predilected to venerate and to contain treasures is fascinating. Marble, Ivory and bone have also cold brilliance; something magnificent without being shining gold, something earthy without being wood. In my last trip the the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, I took these pictures of sculptures and objects with musical representations which

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