Images from The Abell Gallery Miniature Virginal by Franciscus Vaninus, Bologna, 1672 NMM 3449.  Miniature virginal by Franciscus Vaninus, Bologna, Italy, 1672.   Single manual, c/e-f2 (2+ octaves); 1 x 2'. Ex coll.:  E. M. W. Paul.   Witten-Rawlins Collection, 1984. Rests on NMM 2906, a small grand piano by Davison & Redpath, London, 1789.   This unusual, small piano was once owned by Elizabeth Learned Peabody, Lake Forest, Illinois, who brought it with her, when she married, from the Learned family home in Natchez, Mississippi.   Board of Trustees, 1982. Miniature Virginal Click on major structural features of image above to see larger views or choose from list below. Front of Virginal and Keyboard Arcade on a Single Key Left Side, Interior View of Repaired Molding Left Side, Exterior View of Repaired Molding Right Side, Interior View of Molding Right Side, Exterior View of Molding Tuning Pins Jack Rail Mount Storage Compartment Cover This exquisite virginal (rectangular harpsichord), hardly more than a foot long, was presumably made for a child of the nobility or aristocracy. Fully functional despite its small size, it might have been used for his or her first music lessons, if not as an extravagant toy. This instrument, together with a nearly identical miniature virginal in the Museo degli Strumenti Musicali in Milan and a nineteenth-century reference suggesting the existence of another virginal, now lost, of unspecified size, dated 1673, are all that is known of Vaninus or his work. He signed the NMM instrument with a handwritten paper label in the interior. Although slightly damaged, the missing letters can be supplied by a later copy of the inscription written in pencil on the bottom board: FRAN[C]IS[CVS VA]NINUS BONONIENSIS FACIEBAT AÑO DÑI. M.DC.LXXII. Above:  Paper label Below:  Writing on bottom board Click on either image to enlarge Plan View Click on major structural features of image above to see larger views or choose from list below. Soundboard Bridge Keyboard Tuning Pins Jack Rail Mount Storage Compartment Cover Molding, Right Interior View Molding, Right Exterior View Molding (repaired), Left Interior View Molding (repaired), Left Exterior View Internal Views and Front of Keyboard Click on major structural features of image above to see larger views or choose from list below. Front End View of Keyboard, Out of Case Arcade on a Single Key Molding, Right Interior View Molding, Right Exterior View Molding (repaired), Left Interior View Molding (repaired), Left Exterior View Interior View, Left Side Interior View, Right Side Storage Compartment, Internal Corner Block 1 Storage Compartment, Internal Corner Block 2 Keyboard and Jacks Choose from list to see larger images: Keyboard Action, Top View Keyboard, Front End Keyboard Action, Left Side Keyboard Action, Right Side Bottom of Keyboard Single Jack, Front View Single Jack, Back View Bottom of Virginal Choose from list to see larger images: Bottom of Virginal Maker's Name Written in Pencil Lower Left Corners   Click arrow to continue Abell Gallery Tour Go to Abell Gallery Tour Index Go to Virtual Gallery Tour Index Go to Checklist of Keyboard Instruments Go to Checklist of 16th- and 17th-Century Instruments National Music Museum The University of South Dakota 414 East Clark Street Vermillion, SD   57069 ©National Music Museum, 1996-2016 Most recent update:   March 3, 2016 The University of South Dakota Return to Top of Page