Obviously, the instrument had not been truly playable since perhaps the early part of the 18th century. It was passably rejuvinated in Rome by an Englishman who put it into saleable condition for being snapped up by a collector. That person claimed, in a note revealed during the restoration I did, that the decoration on the sides of the instrument were done by one Francesco Albani (d.1662) four of whose paintings hang in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg.
Click here for this Sound Sample of the 1658 de Zentis - designated by him as the "primo and secundo" registers (back and front 8's). This live recording was performed by Elizabeth Farr.
Willard Martin did some interesting research on De Zentis and said he thinks the instrument may have been built by De Zentis for Queen Kristina of Sweden when she abdicated her throne, converted to Catholicism, and moved down to Rome to live near the Pope around 1658. Everything I found during the restoration I did on this instrument suggests that Willard may be right. The instrument was built as a super rush job. De Zentis was probably sent ahead by the Queen to make sure she had an instrument waiting for her. He clearly used a preexisting instrument of extremely high quality construction as the knee braces throughout the instrument are beautifully dovetailed into the bottom and into the bellyrail. The liner had two complete sets of hitchpin holes. The treble half of the soundboard also had two sets of hitchpin holes, but the bass half of the soundboard only had one. That means De Zentis probably used an instrument, made of cypress, one he had built prior to moving to Sweden to work for the Queen as her private instrument maker. He stripped away the moldings and, in the manner of the northern makers, glued a spruce core to the outside of the original harpsichord. Then, because the instrument needed to be made as fit for a queen as fast as possible, he took a gorgeously decorated harpsichord case (probably made in Naples) resawed the painting off the sides and glued that outer 3mm of poplar with the case decoration on it to the outside of the spruce core. Not wanting to destroy any of the gorgeous painting, he added (crudely) a bunch of blocks to the underside of the instrument to extend the instrument's width in order to accomodate the poplar veneer and its decoration. To make the whole thing appear elegant, he sculpted the underside at the front and trimmed out the entire instrument in moldings following all the curves. This touch as well as the "strange"looking legs are clearly inspired by ancient Roman wall paintings in which one can see depicted furniture which has the same aesthetic details as the curving moldings and the style of legs used on the instrument.
Click here for another Sound Sample of the 1658 de Zentis - designated by him as the "primo" register (back 8') This live recording was performed by Elizabeth Farr.
The decoration of the cheek, bentside and tail is different than what is on the spine (an exquisitely painted hunting scene). I suspect that there was another hunting scene on those surfaces as well, originally. But on seeing the hunting scenes, the newly converted and devout Queen probably had De Zentis find a competent artist to cover that decoration with what is now on the sides...Putti and swags of flowers supported by grotesques.
Click here for a short Sound Sample of the 1658 de Zentis - designated by him as the "primo" register (back 8')
