Woman Playing a Lyre 1564 - 1625

Curator: Looking at this pencil drawing, doesn't it just hum with the quiet concentration of creativity? Editor: Indeed. Here we have "Woman Playing a Lyre," a work attributed to Hans Rottenhammer, created sometime between 1564 and 1625. Its current home is here at the SMK, the Statens Museum for Kunst. What's interesting about it, even just visually, is the kind of artistic ideal it presents of femininity and artistry combined. Curator: You know, that was exactly my first thought. There’s this ethereal quality; she almost floats off the page, draped in these classically inspired garments, while all her attention is focused on the lyre. Editor: The positioning and implied motion absolutely speaks volumes, right? The way she leans slightly forward, seemingly poised to start playing. It gives agency to her, and this challenges art-historical ideas surrounding the male gaze of that era. Curator: I agree. And it speaks to larger socio-cultural understandings during the late 16th and early 17th century of women's participation, albeit in constrained and monitored settings, with forms of cultural expression. Though the work seems initially quite innocuous, when placed within that larger historical narrative, questions surface around the very notion of agency of women creators at this point. The very delicate use of pencil perhaps reinforces an ideology regarding idealized womanhood from the time period? Editor: Ooo, now you’re cookin'! You almost feel as though you might catch a strain of her music if you just hold your breath for a moment. The beauty of it is that the artwork allows each viewer to interpret for themselves the narrative. We just hope that the viewer engages, regardless. Curator: Precisely! So, if we really dig in, what might seem like a rather conventional drawing on first impression actually starts to unravel all sorts of historical and cultural assumptions around gender and artistic practice. Food for thought. Editor: Yes! A beautiful whisper from the past, resonating in so many contemporary chords.