Instruments - Part 10

Harp

The harp was played in ancient Egypt, although it didn't have the exact form of the modern instrument.  An ancient cousin of the harp is the lyre, smaller than a harp and with fewer strings.  In ancient Greece, the god Apollo was associated with the lyre.  This is a Roman statue of Apollo with a lyre from Hadrian's villa c. 150 AD.

An etching of a satyr playing a lyre by Hans Sebald Beham, 1531, now in the Museum of New Zealand.

This more recent statue of a nude man with a lyre is by Cummings, San Francisco, 1920s.

This is called Nude Male with Harp by American artist Frank Eugene, 1908-1910, in the Metropolitan Museum.  But it looks like a lyre, not a harp.  Well, they both have strings that you pluck.

This is a Swedish Art Deco glass vase engraved with a naked harp player by Lindstrand c. 1934.

This undated modern painting by Bruce Sargeant, pseudonym of artist Mark Beard, is called Practicing the Harp.

But none of those instruments look like a modern orchestral harp, seen in this photo.  The orchestral harp has more strings, giving it an enormous range, and importantly, it has foot pedals for raising or lowering the pitch of the strings so the harp can play any chromatic note (i.e. the black notes as well as the white notes).  Note also that the base of the instrument is quite wide, acting as a soundboard to amplify the notes.

Another harp player.

We end with a pseudo-angel playing a harp.  Given his lack of clothing, I have my doubts how angelic he is.