Bosch hurdy gurdy

This is a renaissance hurdy gurdy based on instruments in paintings by Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450-1516). His most well known depiction of a hurdy gurdy is in his ‘Garden of earthly delights’ (c. 1515), in which a good amount of detail can be seen. A lesser known depiction is from ‘The temptation of St. Anthony” which features a man with a wooden leg who has an instrument slung over his shoulder! There is much less detail in this picture, however it shows a more rounded outline than the ‘Garden’ instrument. It is this latter picture that gave me the outline for my hurdy gurdy, with other details taken from the ‘Garden’.

In order for this instrument to be as versatile as possible, I designed it with a chromatic keyboard and included a 6th string. It has three available drone strings, a trompette and two chantarelles (melody strings). The first instrument shown below has English walnut back, ribs and fittings with boxwood pegs and sharp keys. Other woods, decorations, and variations in stringing and keyboard are also available. The second instrument pictured (on the fabric background) was made from flamed maple with English pearlwood and boxwood fittings.