H a r p s i c h o r d s
S A N F R A N C I S C O
T O D I N I
This page is a project for a rainy day. It is an interesting story which I have yet to write. The documents which are in my library relate to a famous instrument in the Metropolitan Museum of Art collection.
A great deal has been written about the instrument of 17th century origin, and it has a colorful history. My documents links it to the Vatican, a fact that is in dispute by musicologists. While the story is probably one of 19th century invention, its characters—the greedy Donna Olimpia Maildalchini and her corrupt brother-in-law Pope Innocent X—make it delicious in the telling.
For more information
see The
Golden Harpsichord of Michele Todini (1616–1690) at the Metropolitan
Museum of Art website.
