Louis XV Special harp
Lyon and Healy
Chicago, 1916
The harp has existed since the middle ages, and is related to the lyre, a plucked stringed instrument from the classical world. Harps were played in Scotland and Ireland from the fourteenth century, and more complex instruments with multiple rows of strings were favored by Welsh harpists from the 1620s onwards. The distinctive shape of the harp made it a favorite emblem of music, frequently depicted by artists since the middle ages.
In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the harp became a popular solo instrument in the domestic context, and a fine example can be seen in Charles d’Oyly’s watercolors of his home in Patna, India, in the previous room of the exhibition.
During the nineteenth century, the harp came to prominence in the symphony orchestra, adding greatly to the coloristic range available to composers and making a striking visual presence on the stage. Composers such as Berlioz, Debussy, Mahler and Elgar made extensive use of one or more harps in their explorations of opulent orchestral effects.
This superbly decorated American example, with elaborate gilded woodcarving, took two years to complete, and may be thought of as a culminating masterpiece of nineteenth-century traditions. Because of its richly resonant sound it has been widely used as a solo instrument.
ON LOAN FROM THE COLLECTION OF PETER S. REIS AND REBECCA FLANNERY