Getting started with the collection:
Music cabinet and piano with a relic of St Cecilia
Pierre Joseph Hubert Cuypers, c. 1858 - c. 1859
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 deep-rooted 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 typefurniture, case furniture, music cabinet
- Object numberBK-1996-8
- Dimensionsheight 205.5 cm x width 103 cm x depth 56.5 cm
- Physical characteristicseiken- en grenenhout, gedeeltelijk beschilderd in kleuren en goud, vertind ijzeren beslag