 The Shrine of Saint Cecilia.  Girl's room.  For monkey and crowd. |
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A King of instruments and Kings of people - isn't it fascinating combination? An organ music takes part in many important events of royal life or could be a hobby, a passion of a royal person ( you probably have heard the rumors that Imperator Nero himself use to play organ and started that tradition...) And also: God bless Archeologie - as it is proven a pipe organ was invented 2-1 cent. BC and it's absolutely possible that King of Heaven could hear it's sound (especially if we would remember that his family have had travel a lot and even to Egypt - possible place were was invented a hydraulis). That's why I decided to include on this page some as I call them "lulaby" images: an angels are playing for baby Jesus. |
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King David and musicians. Cividale. Italy. 13 cent. From: Music in medieval world.
King David surrounded by instrumentalists. Breviary of Isabella. Ca. 1497. From:
Alamire.
See a bigger detail with organetto from the same source.
Imperator on hippodrome. Column to Theodosius. Hippodrome. Constantinople. 346 - 395 AD. From: Byzantine and Medieval music. Theodosius I not only become a Christian himself, made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire but also declared all other religions illegal.
Angel's song. W. A. Bougereau. 1881. Forest Lawn Cemetary. Glendale. California.
Ghent altarpiece. Hubert and Jan van Eyck. Ca.1432. Eglise de Saint Bavon, Ghent. Second from top left : The singing angels. Center top: The eternal Father, or "Jesus Christ triumphant." Second from top right:
The musician angels. 
Madonna of the Rose Bush. Stephan Lochner. Ca. 1440. Oil on panel. 51 x 40 cm. Wallraft - Richartz Museum. Cologne.
The King and Queen at Mass. Prayer Book of King Alfonso V of Aragon and Naples. Ca.1442 From:Illustrated Datebook ( Medieval Music Manuscripts )1995. Below the larger picture there is a nice illuminated capital letter "S" with an
organist sitting at a portative organ with his bellow boy standing behind it pomping the bellows. ( Scans are the courtesy of Arthur Hills)
Baptism of Clovis. Master of St. Gilles. Ca.1500. Wood. National Gallery of Art. Washington D.C. A famous story of marriage and conversion to Catholicism of Merovingian King Clovis could be found at
Medieval Sourcebook. A story depicted in a 16 cent. painting took place in 6 cent. so many detailes of a church interior including a pipe organ on a balcony, a clothing etc. are almost 10 centuries "younger" than historical episode itself. 
King Rene's honeymoon. By Dante Gabriel Rosetti. Watercolor.Ca.1850. Depicts a romantic story of the honeymoon of Rene D'Anjou and Jeanne De Laval. They were married in September of 1454. Rene was 45 years old ( it was his second marriage) and his bride was 21 years.
King Charles II adoring sacred relic. Claudio Coello. C.1690. Sacristy of the Escorial. From: Treasures of Spain. King kneeling at the altar, surrounded by members of his Court and members of the community of the monastery. 
Prince Consort is playing before Mendelssohn and Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace in 1842. The Mansell Collection. From: A History of Music.