dated 1696
Giovanni Andrea Menegoni, Venice
Compass 45 keys, C/E c3 with short bass octave
two 8' stops
case and sound board of cypresswood
key facings boxwood (white keys) and ebony (black keys)
outer case in the shape of the instrument covered with leather and painted inside
height (body sides) 19 cm, width 70 cm, length 170 cm; keyboard length (c 62) 49 cm
Inv. 1879.123.
Giovanni Andrea Menegoni is documented in Venice from 1690 to 1715. Only a few instruments by him have survived. The signature is burnt into the board above the keys: IOANNIS ANDREA MENEGONI VENETI MDCXCVI. The instrument is a relatively late example of an Italian harpsichord of the kind usual from the C16, with thin walls and a decorated case shaped around the instrument. To be played it could be either left in the case or taken out and placed on a table. The harpsichord is an illustration of the excellent holdings in the Museum of stringed keyboard instruments of the C17 and C18 (harpsichord, spinet and clavichord).
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