Celebrating a total of 3 instruments painstakingly handmade by prestigious Lythe based Craftsman Johannes Secker, which Rachael has been honoured to paint the finishing detail for. The latest, an Italian Virginals, with her finely brushed nameplate and jack rail lettering, likewise for Johannes' fortepiano of 2011, modelled on an instrument by Johann Andreas Stein c.1784, just purchased by The Royal College of Music.
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These follow her design and painting of the cut flowers, feathers, shells and insects on the tulip wood soundboard and gold on blue nameplate lettering of Johannes' C17th copy of the harpsichord after Ruckers. This explosion of revived life and colour lends itself to the sentiment of the inscription on the underside of the lid, proclaiming that while the wood from which it was made was alive, it was mute; but now dead, it sounds sweetly
(as a harpsichord.) Such a woozingly pretty sound. Such a visual extravaganza. Like a neatly styled music box or a Fabergé egg, once opened it shows off its breathtaking delight, no longer concealed. This is Rachael's favourite piece and her proudest accomplishment in terms of freely designed contemporary painting, complimenting the ingenuity of the past. Learning something too, of the highly skilled, involved process Johannes goes through in order to build such beautiful pieces, Rachael found it quite awesome to be a collaborator at the final stage of the harpsichord's development. She did not copy the decorative design of any previous instrument, and let the shapes of the sections within the soundboard, influence the flow of natural forms, which she worked into the lightly shellacked wood with dilluted gouache pigments.
These follow her design and painting of the cut flowers, feathers, shells and insects on the tulip wood soundboard and gold on blue nameplate lettering of Johannes' C17th copy of the harpsichord after Ruckers. This explosion of revived life and colour lends itself to the sentiment of the inscription on the underside of the lid, proclaiming that while the wood from which it was made was alive, it was mute; but now dead, it sounds sweetly
(as a harpsichord.) Such a woozingly pretty sound. Such a visual extravaganza. Like a neatly styled music box or a Fabergé egg, once opened it shows off its breathtaking delight, no longer concealed. This is Rachael's favourite piece and her proudest accomplishment in terms of freely designed contemporary painting, complimenting the ingenuity of the past. Learning something too, of the highly skilled, involved process Johannes goes through in order to build such beautiful pieces, Rachael found it quite awesome to be a collaborator at the final stage of the harpsichord's development. She did not copy the decorative design of any previous instrument, and let the shapes of the sections within the soundboard, influence the flow of natural forms, which she worked into the lightly shellacked wood with dilluted gouache pigments.
www.johannes-secker.co.uk
Johannes Secker’s keyboard instruments are found on both sides of the Atlantic. He is a Restorer of originals as well as a Maker of high-quality faithfully made copies of historical pieces from the C17th and C18th - reproductions of the kind of keyboard instruments that gave voice to the works of Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. Quite different in kind from modern grand pianos, Johannes’ fortepianos, harpsichords and clavichords allow the music of the baroque and classical masters to sound in a way that the composers themselves would have recognised.
Johannes Secker’s keyboard instruments are found on both sides of the Atlantic. He is a Restorer of originals as well as a Maker of high-quality faithfully made copies of historical pieces from the C17th and C18th - reproductions of the kind of keyboard instruments that gave voice to the works of Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. Quite different in kind from modern grand pianos, Johannes’ fortepianos, harpsichords and clavichords allow the music of the baroque and classical masters to sound in a way that the composers themselves would have recognised.
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