Pedal Harp
ca. 1785 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
George Cousineau (1733-1800) was one of the leading harp makers of his day, and enjoyed royal patronage as harp-maker in ordinary to Queen Marie Antoinette (1755-1793) from 1775. His harps were usually fitted with seven pedals, like this example, that operated a series of béquilles or double levers which enabled each string to be raised a semi-tone more accurately than had been previously possible. Cousineau's surviving harps were lavishly carved and painted, and would have been thought highly suitable for the salons of Paris in the decades leading up to the French Revolution in 1789.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Carved, gilt, planed and painted pine, with metal mechanisms |
| Brief description | Pedal-harp, carved, gilded and painted pine, with metal mechanisms, made by Georges Cousineau, France (Paris), 1780s |
| Physical description | 'Back of seven ribs. The belly is painted with six figures playing musical instruments, all in the style of Boucher. At the base was a cock and hen (the latter now missing) carved in the round. The pillar is of an unusual section, roughly D-shaped, with corded mouldings in front and also at the back corners. Around it is entwined a garland of carved flowers, interspersed with musical instruments, rising to a satyr's mask. The scroll is surmounted by a scrolling terminal figure with a putto's body. The carving is exceptionally rich, but has suffered much detail damage and has been substantially regilt. Single action by 'crutch' (béquille) mechanism.' Anthony Baines, Catalogue of Musical Instruments in the Victoria and Albert Museum: Part II: Non-Keyboard Instruments (London, 1978), p. 80. In 2013 the original hen was repositioned on the base. The harp is fitted with seven pedals round the base of the instrument. |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions | COUSINEAU LUTHIER DE · LA · REINE · (This is inscribed on a painted ribbon on the soundboard.)
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| Gallery label |
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| Credit line | Given by Professor Charles Wheatstone |
| Object history | This object was given to the museum by 'Professor' Wheatstone, most likely Sir Charles Wheatstone (1802 - 1875), a musical instrument maker, who turned to scientific instruments and inventions in telegraphy and was knighted in 1868. 'Said to have belonged to Marie Antoinette, but without any evidence now known'- Anthony Baines: Catalogue of Musical Instruments in the Victoria and Albert Museum: Part II: Non-keyboard instruments (London, 1998), p. 80. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | George Cousineau (1733-1800) was one of the leading harp makers of his day, and enjoyed royal patronage as harp-maker in ordinary to Queen Marie Antoinette (1755-1793) from 1775. His harps were usually fitted with seven pedals, like this example, that operated a series of béquilles or double levers which enabled each string to be raised a semi-tone more accurately than had been previously possible. Cousineau's surviving harps were lavishly carved and painted, and would have been thought highly suitable for the salons of Paris in the decades leading up to the French Revolution in 1789. |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | 8531-1863 |
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| Record created | May 16, 2001 |
| Record URL |
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