The Woman with a Tambourine
Medium
pen and brown ink and brush and brown wash, over black chalk; framing lines in pen and brown ink over graphite
Dimensions
image: 29.7 × 41.7 cm · sheet: 35.4 × 47.3 cm
Classification
Drawing
Department
Drawings
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Dudley P. Allen Fund
Accession Number
1947.12
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
About this artwork
Observed by Punchinello and friends, a centaur is subdued by a maiden’s musical charms. Rendered touchingly vulnerable, the creature lies with its head on the girl’s lap. One of the simplest instruments, the tambourine was typically played by itinerant musicians—nymphs, vagabonds, seducers—and was traditionally considered the quintessential attribute of the outsider, an aspect reinforced in the 20th century by Bob Dylan’s "Mr. Tambourine Man."