This is a work in progress (inspired by my friend Tim, a terrific recorder player) but it is far enough along for us to have some fun with it. Suppose you are an art historian and someone has emailed you this image and asked you to identify the artist. You don't have the painting in front of you so you can't tell the age of the painting by looking at the canvas or testing a paint sample. The costume is nondescript, no clue there. The recorder dates back to before the renaissance but this couldn't have been done before then so let's start there. The preference for black and white over bold color would suggest the school of Tintoretto rather than Veronese. The recorder might reflect the Dutch love of musical themes, say Steen or Hals, but this isn't jolly enough for them. The Spanish are more sober, maybe one of Zurbaran's monks at leisure or someone serenading one of Goya's majas. Definitely not Delacroix or Ingres but later, Manet perhaps. It could be 20th century. The drawing and brushwork point toward Chase or Bellows. Didn't Pollock study with Benton before going abstract? Well, now we seem hopelessly lost. Let's just go with anonymous.....