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Music cabinet and piano with a relic of St Cecilia
Atelier Cuypers/Stoltzenberg, Roermond, 1858 and 1859, designed by Pierre Joseph Hubert Cuypers (1827–1921), music cabinet: various woods, partially painted, pewtered iron, piano: various woods, partially painted, glass, cloth
Pierre Cuypers, the Rijksmuseum architect, designed these pieces of furniture as engagement and wedding presents for his second wife. The Gothic Revival style and the reliquary on the piano express their deeprooted Catholicism. The images on the piano case – the Annunciation and scenes from the life of St Cecilia, patron saint of music – allude to the difficult choice of Cuypers’ wife between marriage and a musical career.
- Artwork typekeyboard instrument, musical instrument, stringed instrument, pianoforte
- Object numberBK-1996-9
- Dimensionsheight 165.2 cm x width 139.8 cm x depth 65 cm
- Physical characteristicseiken- en grenenhout, gedeeltelijk beschilderd in kleuren en goud, glas en lakense stof