Instruments - Part 32

Lute, Mandolin

The ancestors of the lute go back to ancient Egypt and Babylonia, but the lute as we know it was played in medieval and Renaissance Europe.  Above is a slightly modified version of Titian's Venus and the Lute Player (1565-1570).  Richard Crowe has replaced the nude Venus in the painting with a nude representation of himself.  He calls the result The Coronation of Bacchus.  The lute player from Titian's painting remains, but his back is turned, so we can't see the lute very well.

Here's a statue of a lute player in Stockholm, Sweden, that shows off the instrument (among other things).

The mandolin, above, is a modern instrument descended from the lute.  

Some mandolins have a more-or-less rounded shape.

Others are more elongated.

Here's another mandolin where something is elongated.

And there are even modern mandolins made by the Gibson guitar company, like the one above.  Most mandolins have four pairs of strings (8 total), as seen here.  The strings in each pair are tuned to the same note and are played together.

We end with a video ad for a guy who will play his mandolin naked and sing you a birthday song.