Concert on a Balcony

In 1624 Frederik Hendrik of Orange, a year before he became stadholder of the Dutch Republic, ordered this canvas for his palace on the Noordeinde in The Hague. It was made to go above a fireplace, and an inventory of 1632 still records it there, over the mantel of the reception hall. Honthorst painted musicians and singers in theatrical costume leaning over a balustrade, as though they were performing from a real balcony above the guests. The Louvre counts it among his first decorative pictures for a palace. It later hung in the picture cabinet of the stadholder William V. In 1795 French troops overran the Republic and William fled to England, and the painting was taken to Paris. The Netherlands never claimed it back.