Hans Ruckers

Biography

Hans Ruckers was a celebrated harpsichord maker working in Antwerp. According to Dolge, Ruckers called on his friends among the great Flemish painters to enhance the beauty and value of his harpsichords by painting pictures upon them. His connection with these artists was so close that he, along with his son and his nephew, were elected members of the "Painters Guild of St. Luke." Surviving instruments of the old Italian and Flemish school, some bearing such paintings, are noted by Dolge to be housed in several notable collections. Hans Ruckers is named as the maker of a double spinet with painted decoration, built in Antwerp in 1560 and illustrated in the book's plates. The instrument, shown open with two keyboard levels and paintings on the interior lid, is presented as an early historical antecedent to the elaborately decorated 'art pianos' discussed in the surrounding chapter. Hans Ruckers is cited by Dolge as an example of the artistic clavichord makers of Italy and the Netherlands, whose instruments were built in beautiful cases embellished with rich carvings and decorated with paintings by the great Flemish masters. No further biographical detail is given. From Spillane (1890): Hans Ruckers, of Antwerp, is described by Spillane as the most notable harpsichord-maker and inventor known. Handel is said to have always preferred playing upon Ruckers' instruments over all others of his time, which Spillane offers as sufficient guarantee of his skill. Ruckers made many significant improvements to the harpsichord, assisted by his sons John and Andrew, toward the seventeenth century, by which time his reputation extended throughout France and Germany. One of his instruments was later included in the Drexel collection at the (New York) Museum of Art.

Highlights

• Made ornately painted clavichords enshrined in artistic cases
• Celebrated maker of harpsichords in Antwerp who commissioned Flemish painter friends to decorate his instruments
• He, his son, and his nephew were elected members of the "Painters Guild of St. Luke"
• Built a double spinet with painted decoration in Antwerp in 1560, reproduced in the book's plates as an early example of the art-instrument tradition
• Described as the most notable harpsichord-maker and inventor known, of Antwerp
• Handel is said to have always preferred playing on Ruckers' instruments over all others of his time
• Made significant improvements to the harpsichord, assisted by his sons John and Andrew

Sources

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911).

Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), p. 15.

Public domain.