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Bravo!
Alex,
This is a truly beautiful painting. I find my eye gliding around the painting, taking in all the lovely passages, the "scenes within the Scene"...starting with the figure in the foreground (your daughter) with her back facing us, the sweep of the harp upward, the molding of the archway, gently conveying our attention over and down, the angles of the violinist's bow and the music stand repeated again by the stairway in the background.... the painting is a delicately balanced concerto, certain themes repeating themselves, variations that result in a delightful set of rhythms.... and because of the mastery and confidence with which it is painted, the strength of these details in no way detracts from the overall unity of the piece. And I love the ambiguity of your daughter's possible attention: is she looking at the music on the stand or glancing up at her brother?
The interior, belonging to an obviously older home, gives the sense that this painting could have been painted anytime during the last hundred years or so - as Linda mentioned, it has a both a contemporary and traditional feel at the same time. And I love the inclusion of an earlier Tyng painting in the background...
I do wonder: were you consciously aware of Vermeer's The Art of Painting (Artist in his Studio) while you were painting this? The compositional similarities are striking: the arrangement of the figures, instead of a painting on an easel, it's sheet music on a stand... the modest chandelier, the self-referential painting-within-the-painting, not to mention the musical theme!....very, very interesting!
Simply put: it is an arresting painting. Breathtaking!
David
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