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Double Manual Flemish Harpsichord by Kevin Fryer, San Francisco 2002
After Johannes Ruckers, Antwerp 1624 (the “Colmar Ruckers”)
Privately commissioned
For the decoration of this instrument, Kevin and I worked with the clients to come
up with a comprehensive visual treatment that would compliment the instrument and
suit the clients’ taste. These clients were partial to the Art Nouveau style, but
since that came nearly 300 years after the period in which the original instrument
was built, I was able to create a design for the case that was inspired by early 17th
century silver work, with the same fluid, organic lines that define Art Nouveau.
Since we all agreed that the case painting should be subordinated to the lid painting,
the palette is simply two shades of muted green. The scrolling bands of the case are
stippled with the same dark green as the background, a subtle effect that gives a
little bit of depth and texture.
The landscape inside the lid is invented entirely from a list of features (waterfall,
Romanesque ruin, people in period costume, etc.) that appealed to the client, which I
then assembled to create a composition reminiscent of late 17th and early 18th century
landscapes.
The soundboard is once again a faithful copy of the surviving soundboard painting,
executed in period pigments.
The block-printed papers in the keywell and surrounding the soundboard are new for
Kevin and me: the keywell paper is taken from the ca. 1600 mother-and-child virginals
by Hans Ruckers (collection Castello Sforzesco, Milan), which is apparently the only
surviving instrument with this particular paper. The papers surrounding the sounboard
are taken from a design in Virgil Solis’ pattern book of 1541. To the best of our
knowledge, this pattern has never been used on harpsichord papers, but since it comes
from the same source as other papers, it is still historically appropriate. I carved
the patterns into blocks of pear wood and printed them one sheet at a time onto Rives
BFK paper.
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