Harpsichord
Jean Henri Hemsch
Paris, 1754
Deciduous wood, polychrome and painted
98,0 x 92,0 x 230,0 cm
Inv.-Nr. 99/148.1-2
On permanent loan from the Ernst-von-Siemens Kunstfonds since 1999
Gallery 88
This harpsichord – essentially still preserved in its original condition and sometimes used for concerts and studio recordings because of its superb sound – is one of five harpsichords known to be from Hemsch's hand. Each of these instruments has two manuals and the same arrangement of the registers; that is 8'4' for the lower and 8' for the upper manual, as well as a lute stop. The tonal range is from F1 to E3. Even the painting of the sounding-board is typical of Hemsch's work: alongside the exquisitely decorative foliate scrolls and flowers, a yellow-hammer perched on a dead tree stump from which a fresh green shoot is growing can be spotted – it symbolizes the rebirth of a dead tree as a musical instrument.
des Bayerischen Nationalmuseum
des Bayerischen Nationalmuseum
