Harpsichord
Maker
Andreas Ruckers
Date1643
Place MadeAntwerp, Belgium, Europe
Modelnone
Serial No.none
SignednoneMarkingsThe original painted soundboard decoration includes the date 1643
DescriptionThe Ruckers dynasty was founded by Hans Ruckers (ca. 1550-1598), who joined Antwerp's Guild of St. Luke as a master harpsichord maker in 1579. Two of his eleven children, Joannes (1578-1642) and Andreas (b. August 1579; died between June 1651 and March 1653), entered the profession. They worked together until Andreas established his own workshop about 1605. Later generations of harpsichord makers in the family include Andreas's son, also named Andreas (1607-1654/1655); Joannes's nephew and successor, Joannes Couchet (1615-1655); and, his son, Joseph Joannes Couchet (1652-1706). They are known to have exported instruments to Holland, Germany, France, England, Spain, and even Colombia and Peru. Their work, much in demand, was widely imitated; and, as early as 1688, Michel Richard, a prominent Parisian maker, passed off one of his Ruckers-inspired harpsichords as an original.
Although, by the beginning of the 19th century, harpsichords went out of fashion as instruments for contemporary music making, they soon were collected as aristocratic pieces of furniture reminiscent of the glories of the past. The plain painted surfaces of harpsichords like the 1643 Ruckers were deemed insufficiently ornate for the pseudo-historical fantasies of 19th-century interior decoration, so its exterior surfaces and the area around the keyboard were redecorated with elaborate borders, vignettes, and garlands on a gold ground. A flamboyant gilt carved stand was also provided. Anachronistic though this redecoration may be, it was responsible for the preservation of the harpsichord until it could again be appreciated as a musical instrument.
There were two standard models of Ruckers harpsichords, one with a single manual, the other with a double manual with the lower keyboard a fourth lower in pitch. Ruckers harpsichords, while ideally suited to the music of their own time and region, were small by later standards, and the transposing keyboards of the two-manual instruments became obsolete not long after this model ceased to be made in the mid-1640s. Just as Stradivari violins used today have been modified from their original specifications to meet modern musical demands, Ruckers harpsichords, prized for their superb tone, were rebuilt ever more radically as the standard keyboard compass was gradually expanded from the four octaves of the Ruckers' day to five octaves in the latter half of the 18th century.
In 18th-century France, Diderot and d'Alembert's Encyclopédie noted that "harpsichords by the three Ruckers and Couchet, such as they left the hands of these masters, have become absolutely unusable today, because these skillful artists, whose understanding of the harmonic aspects was quite superior, did very badly on the part of the keyboard. Moreover, these Flemish harpsichords are so small that the pieces or sonatas composed today cannot be played on them, which is why they are rebuilt . . . A harpsichord by Ruckers or Couchet, artistically cut and enlarged, with jacks, registers, and keyboards by skillful modern makers such as Blanchet [or] Paschal [Taskin], has become an infinitely precious instrument."
The NMM's Ruckers double underwent just such a process. About two inches (5 cm) were added to its width in the treble, and the wrestplank and the action were replaced, probably done in the 1730s or 40s by the Parisian maker, Antoine Vater, or his eminent pupil, Henri Hemsch. Thus, in its musical resources, it became a normal 18th-century French harpsichord with two GG-to-e3 (58 notes) keyboards and the standard disposition of 8' and 4' stops on the lower manual, 8' on the upper, a buff stop on one of the 8' choirs, and a shove coupler.
When Ruckers harpsichords were rebuilt in France, they were usually redecorated to suit current fashion. Remaining from this time is the brilliant vermilion name batten, made to replace the original, when it became too short during the instrument's enlargement.
The beautifully preserved decoration on the soundboard was painted by the anonymous artist whose work is found only on instruments made by Andreas Ruckers or his son, ca. 1628-1654. In addition to flowers, birds, insects, shrimp, and arabesques is the date, 1643, in red within a banner. The interior of the lid features a painting in the manner of the Ruckers' contemporary, Frans Francken, depicting several mythological scenes, including, most prominently at the left, Amphion building the walls of Thebes with the power of music.
DimensionsLength of spine not including molding: 2266 mm
Width not including moldings: 846 mm
ProvenancePurchased in 2000 from Sheridan Germann, Boston, Massachusetts, who acquired it in 1981 at an auction in Paris. The harpsichord had previously been sold in France in 1936 by the owners of the Château de Chenonceaux.
Published ReferencesBoalch, Donald H. Makers of the Harpsichord and Clavichord 1440-1840. Third edition, edited by Charles Mould (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995), p. 562.
Germann, Sheridan. "The Accidental Collector," Early Keyboard Studies Newsletter, Vol. V, No. 3 (March 1991), pp. 1-5.
-------. “Harpsichord Decoration: A Conspectus,” in Howard Schott, ed., The Historical Harpsichord, vol. 4 (Hillsdale, N.Y.: Pendragon Press, 2002), pp. 129 and 131.
O'Brien, Grant. Ruckers: a Harpsichord and Virginal Building Tradition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), p. 267.
Credit LinePurchase funds gift of Margaret L. Sletwold Estate; and Arne B. and Jeanne F. Larson Fund, 2000
Object number10000
On View
On view
1625-1675 ca.
