Viols in festoon form

Braunschweig - viola da gamba consort

Viols of at least three different shapes are employed simultaneously in this consort! The three viols in the foreground - a treble, a bass and perhaps a large tenor? - are in the festoon shape with flame holes and a rosette. The viol visible on the right has the classical form. The great bass viol or violone in G has sloping shoulders but f-holes like the violin-family. This North-German painting dates from around 1635, in the middle of the Thirty-Years' War.

Braunschweig - Treble



Braunschweig - Consort bass

Viola da gamba Consort in Braunschweig, ca. 1635


Musscher: Viola da gamba in festoon form

Michiel van Musscher (1645-1705): Viola da gamba in festoon form



Bass viola da gamba by John Rose, London, ca. 1600

Bass viola da gamba perhaps by John Rose II, London. ca. 1600
(This viol is regrettably not in our collection!)



Treble viola da gamba 1 Anonymous, ca. 1730

Treble viola da gamba: Anonymous German 1 (ca. 1730)



Treble viola da gamba 2 by Marcel Pichler

Treble viola da gamba: Anonymous 2 (German ca. 1730)

updated 18.06.2011