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Ruckers harpsichords were renowned for their beautiful tone and decoration. They were cherished and kept for generations, even if many surviving examples, including this one, were subsequently altered in order to keep up with the latest musical fashions. This instrument had long been associated with the composer George Frederick Handel (1685-1759), although it is now doubtful whether he ever owned it.","physicalDescription":"Harpsichord in a pine case, painted black. Inside, the lid and part of the keyboard-surround are painted a brick red with gilded decoration and mottoes","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Ruckers, Andreas (the elder)","id":"A11234"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"AAT251917"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"Pine","id":"AAT12620"},{"text":"Spruce","id":"AAT12726"}],"techniques":[{"text":"Painting","id":"x30598"},{"text":"Gilding","id":"AAT53789"},{"text":"Joining","id":"AAT137062"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Pine case, with spruce soundboard; lid and soundboard painted; gilt rose","categories":[{"text":"Musical instruments","id":"THES48919"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"FWK","id":"THES48597"},"images":["2017JX0155","2006AF7445","2017JX0146","2017JX0147","2017JX0148","2017JX0149","2017JX0150","2017JX0151","2017JX0152","2017JX0154","2017JX0156","2017JX0157","2017JX0158","2017JX0159","2017JX0160","2017JX0161","2017JX0162","2017JX0163","2017JX0164","2017JX0165","2017JX0166","2017JX0167"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"002","id":"THES341176"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"002","id":"THES340977"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"002","id":"THES340977"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Harpsichord","id":""}],[{"text":"strings","id":""}],[{"text":"part","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Antwerp","id":"x28724"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1631","earliest":"1631-01-01","latest":"1631-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"The date 1651 probably added during eighteenth-century restoration"}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"173.1","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"78.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"21.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"ANDREAS RUCKERS ME FECIT ANTVERPIAE 1651","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"Ruckers, Andreas (The Elder)","id":"A11234"},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"1651","earliest":"1651-01-01","latest":"1651-12-31"},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"Latin","medium":"paint","method":"painting","position":"keyboard","script":"Roman","translation":"Andreas Ruckers made me at Antwerp, 1651","transliteration":"","type":"1) Decoration 2) Signature","note":"1) Decoration 2) Signature; Latin; Roman; keyboard; painting; paint; Ruckers, Andreas (The Elder); 1651"},{"content":"MUSICA DONUM DEI","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"Ruckers, Andreas (The Elder)","id":"A11234"},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"1651","earliest":"1651-01-01","latest":"1651-12-31"},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"Latin","medium":"paint","method":"painting","position":"Inside of front portion of lid","script":"Roman","translation":"Music the Gift of God","transliteration":"","type":"1) Decoration 2) Makers's mark","note":"1) Decoration 2) Makers's mark; Latin; Roman; Inside of front portion of lid; painting; paint; Ruckers, Andreas (The Elder); 1651"},{"content":"SIC TRANSIT GLORIA MUNDI","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"Ruckers, Andreas (The Elder)","id":"A11234"},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"1651","earliest":"1651-01-01","latest":"1651-12-31"},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"Latin","medium":"paint","method":"Painting","position":"Inside of main portion of lid","script":"Roman","translation":"So passes earthly glory.","transliteration":"","type":"1) Decoration 2) Makers's mark","note":"1) Decoration 2) Makers's mark; Latin; Roman; Inside of main portion of lid; Painting; paint; Ruckers, Andreas (The Elder); 1651"}],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Harpsichord, Antwerp, The Handel Ruckers, Andreas Ruckers, 1631 (prev. 1651)","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Howard Schott and Anthony Baines (revised by James Yorke), Catalogue of Musical Instruments in the Victoria and Albert Museum, part I: Keyboard Instruments by Howard Schott (1968, rev. ed. 1985), part II: Non-keyboard Instruments by Anthony Baines (1968, rev. ed. 1978), revised by James Yorke (London, 1998), cat. no. 15, pp.53-6\n\n15. HARPSICHORD, Andreas Ruckers the Elder, Antwerp, 1631\r\nMus. No. 1079-1868\r\n\r\n1.\tThe harpsichord is inscribed above the keys: ANDREAS RUCKERS ME FECIT ANTVERPIAE 1651 (sic). The date 1651 (sic) is written in black lettering on a white scroll between the soundboard rose and the longside. There is a gilt cast-metal rose with the initials A.R.\r\n\r\n2.\tThere are two manuals of fifty-eight note compass, GG, AA - f3. The standard measurement is 487mm. The ivory-covered naturals with moulded boxwood fronts measure 132mm long on the upper and 123mm long on the lower manual, both with 40mm key-heads and a width of 22mm. The bevelled ebony sharps measure 76mm long on the upper and 72mm long on the lower manual, both with a width of 8-11mm.\r\n\r\n3.\tThe harpsichord is disposed as follows:\r\nLOWER MANUAL:<- 4-foot\r\n<-- 8-foot\r\nUPPER MANUAL: 8-foot (dogleg) ->\r\nThere is no coupler. The registers are controlled by three brass stop-knobs, two at the bass end and one at the treble end above the upper keyboard.\r\n\r\n4.\tThe present stringing in brass and steel is entirely modern. The scaling and plucking points are as follows:\r\n8-foot (longer string)\r\nGG\t1448mm (152mm)\r\nc2\t330mm (98mm)\r\nf3\t127mm (12mm)\r\n \r\n4-foot \n917mm (121mm) 2\n235mm (81mm)\r\n60mm (44mm)\r\n\n5.\tThe soundboard is of spruce and contains the gilt cast-metal rose with the initials A.R. (diameter 65mm) of the kind used by Andreas Ruckers the Elder in his instruments of all types datable from 1608 to 1636; this differs slightly from the roses in his later instruments. The soundboard is decorated in gouache with flowers, fruits, animals, arabesque border patterns (largely obliterated), and the date 1651 is placed on a white scroll between the rose and the longside. Much of the soundboard painting dates from the eighteenth century, as is explained more fully below.\r\n\r\n6. The case is now painted black outside, except for the longside where the original marbled painting (a red-brown background veined in white) is still visible. The lid is secured by four large brass strap-hinges, and the two front sections of the lid by eight smaller hinges. The remains of the original 'snake' hinges are still visible. There are also four brass clasps for locking the lid. (There was formerly a front lockboard with the inscription ACTA VIRUM PROBANT, but this was accidentally destroyed when the lock was under repair in about 1860, before the harpsichord was acquired by the Museum.) There is a compartment in the longside for spare strings, etc.\n\r\nThe inside of the lid and part of the keyboard surround are painted a brick-red with gilded decoration in a floral design, and with mottoes: SIC TRANSIT GLORIA MUNDI on the main lid; MUSICA DONUM DEI on the small front section. These mottoes were probably included in the original seventeenth-century decoration which was on block-printed paper backgrounds. Remains of these papers, typical of Antwerp harpsichords, are still to be seen within the case, but have been much painted over.\n\r\nThe harpsichord measures 2020mm long, 915mm wide and 262mm high. The stand, known from an old photograph and probably of eighteenth-century English origin, with four turned legs joined by stretchers, is now missing.\r\n\r\n7.\tThe harpsichord is a notable example of a Ruckers as rebuilt in the eighteenth century. Originally constructed as a typical 6-foot single manual instrument of forty-five note compass, C/E-c3, it had two registers, a 4-foot and an 8-foot, possibly with a buff stop, measuring about 1820mm long (some 200mm shorter than at present) and about 711mm wide (about 204mm narrower than as enlarged). The process of extensive alteration of the case, compass and disposition of Ruckers harpsichords to meet the musical requirements of later periods was far more commonly carried out, judging from the number of survivors, in France than in England, and was referred to there as the grand ravalement. The enlargement of the present instrument is believed to date from the second half of the eighteenth century. A tell-tale indication is the use of socalled 'bat' pins for the front pinning of the English-style keyboard fitted to the rebuilt harpsichord, a type of pin used by the great London makers, such as Kirckman and Shudi, after the middle of the century. The registers and jacks fitted during the enlargement are also of typically late eighteenth-century English type.\r\n \r\nUnlike the petit ravalement enlargement, which basically meant cramming a few more notes into an unaltered case, the grand ravalement was a drastic and most substantial rebuilding, affecting the inner as well as the outer structure. Thus, for instance, there is an additional bottom brace of pine of typical eighteenth-century English form located beneath the soundboard rose and visible through it. The joints on the long-side, bentside and cheekpiece are visible, as well as that above the keyboards, showing where the case has been enlarged to add notes at both the bass and treble ends of the compass, and to provide the additional length required for a second manual. The present grand ravalement seems to have been accomplished in one stage. A completely new wrest-plank was provided (probably of oak) and veneered with spruce. Forward of the gap new painted decoration was added and this was applied before the new nuts were fitted on the veneered surface of the wrest-plank. New 8-foot and 4-foot soundboard bridges were also fitted, both of pear or service wood. A new bottom board was applied over the worm-eaten older one.\r\n \r\nA curious deviation from conventional English eighteenth-century construction is to be observed in the double-pinning of the 8-foot soundboard bridge. The thirty double and one single course of strings in that section are less acutely angled than in a typical English instrument. The hitchpins, on the other hand, are bent back slightly more than was customary.\n\r\nThe soundboard-painting was necessarily extended and altered in the ravalement. A slight amount of overpainting, possibly by way of restoration, can be observed. Arabesques that formerly defined the edges of the case and outlined the soundboard bridges had to be obliterated when these elements were relocated. New or extended sprays of leaves and flowers were used to cover them. Nevertheless, enough of the original soundboard painting survives to permit correction of the date of the original instrument, taking other factors into account as well.\n\r\nThe 1651 date appears to have been altered. The numerals are written in black rather than in the red colour customarily used by Ruckers when the date was placed on a white banner. Traces of red along the edges of the banner appear to indicate that the typical red-and-white colour scheme was the one originally followed. What is more, the numerals of the date 1651 are not executed with the customary neatness and precision of the Antwerp decorators. The style of the soundboard painting (discounting the later additions and alterations) has been identified as that found on four other Ruckers instruments datable to the 1630s (Boalch Nos. 97, 100 and 102a and a single-manual harpsichord in the collection of Michael Thomas, Whissonsett, Norfolk).\n\r\nThe soundboard rose is also of a type used by Andreas Ruckers the Elder until 1636. It is suggested that the black 1651 now on the white banner above this rose was originally 1631 in the usual red colour but, having darkened with age, soil or chemical change, was obscured at the time of the repainting. To an eighteenth-century maker of musical instruments who was rebuilding a Ruckers, this difference of twenty years in the date of the original would not have seemed significant. (For a detailed analysis of the soundboard painting, see Sheridan Germann in SCHOTT.) Taking all these factors into account, the instrument has been redated c. 1631.\r\n\r\n8.\tThe harpsichord was presented by John Broadwood & Sons in 1868. It is one of several claimants to the title of 'Handel's harpsichord'. The inconclusive documentation is reprinted in RUSSELL 1968.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"Unique","id":"THES48864"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"Flowers","id":"x31099"},{"text":"Monkeys","id":"AAT22357"}],"contentConcepts":[{"text":"Florilegium","id":"x37518"},{"text":"Monkey's orchestra","id":"x37519"}],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"HARPSICHORD\r\nBy Andreas Ruckers, the Elder, 1651\r\nInscribed above the keys ANDREAS RUCKERS ME FECIT ANTVERPIAE 1651 (sic) The instrument has a compass of fifty eight notes, GG, AA - f3, one four foot and two eight foot stops, and a spruce soundboard decorated with flowers and animals. \r\n\r\nKeyboard Catalogue No.: 15 \r\n \r\nThis instrument was originally a single manual harpsichord with a range of forty-five notes, but was extensively altered in the eighteenth century. It was said to have belonged to Handel, but the evidence remains inconclusive.\r\n\r\n1079-1868","date":{"text":"pre September 2000","earliest":null,"latest":"2000-08-31"}}],"partNumbers":["1079:1-1868","1079:2-1868","1079:3-1868"],"accessionNumberNum":"1079","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1868,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Harpsichord","strings","part"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-11-12","recordCreationDate":"2001-05-16","availableToBook":true}}