Cherub Playing Lute (Jett Gravesite)
Location: Area SS/Lot 134
Date of Placement: 1998
Decedents: Zachary Edward Jett, Thomas Edward Jett-Folk
Monument inducted into the Hall in September 2024 (Class #4)
Location: Area SS/Lot 134
Date of Placement: 1998
Decedents: Zachary Edward Jett, Thomas Edward Jett-Folk
Monument inducted into the Hall in September 2024 (Class #4)
This monument features a very unique sculpture atop an ample pedestal. It is that of an angelic young cherub playing a lute, a small musical string instrument. It's a popular design that has appeared regularly as small statuettes. In researching the origins of this, it seems to be based on an oil painting by Italian artist Rosso Fiorentino, dating to 1521. This famous art piece is housed in Florence's famous Uffizi Gallery and features a child angel plucking the strings of a lute.
Further study records that it was a fragment of a lost altarpiece. Underneath the dark background, added retrospectively, reflectographic studies have revealed part of a building, at the base of which the musical angel would have stood in the manner of certain compositions by Fra’ Bartolomeo or Raphael. The original composition can be inferred from the Sacred Conversation painted around 1600 by Francesco Vanni and housed in the church of Sant’Agata ad Asciano in Siena. Portraying the very tender image of the child angel apparently unconfident in his effort to handle the lute so overly large by comparison, this painting is Rosso Fiorentino's original reinterpretation of a traditional theme where the notably modern brushstrokes give the work a particularly vivid effect.
Further study records that it was a fragment of a lost altarpiece. Underneath the dark background, added retrospectively, reflectographic studies have revealed part of a building, at the base of which the musical angel would have stood in the manner of certain compositions by Fra’ Bartolomeo or Raphael. The original composition can be inferred from the Sacred Conversation painted around 1600 by Francesco Vanni and housed in the church of Sant’Agata ad Asciano in Siena. Portraying the very tender image of the child angel apparently unconfident in his effort to handle the lute so overly large by comparison, this painting is Rosso Fiorentino's original reinterpretation of a traditional theme where the notably modern brushstrokes give the work a particularly vivid effect.
Rosso Fiorentino's "Cherub Playing a Lute" (1521)
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Church of Sant’Agata ad Asciano in Siena, Italy
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"The Sacred Conversation" painted around 1600 by Francesco Vanni
A website entitled CemeteryArt.net states the following in reference to funerary art utilizing this specific instrument: "The lute represents the perfect symbol for concord and harmony, due to its ensemble of different strings. It mirrors the harmonious order of the universe and of the human body and soul. Although this particular design is unique to the Jett stone only in Mount Olivet, our most famous monument includes a young, "unwinged" cherub holding a different iteration of a lute. This is our Francis Scott Key monument by the entrance of the cemetery, and the figure is cast in bronze, not chiseled in granite.
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A very sad story is connected with this particular monument as this is the final resting place of two children, cousins in fact. Six-year old Zachary Edward Jett was the victim of an accidental drowning in April of 1998. His heartbreaking death made the front page in the local newspaper back on April 10th, 1998.
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Frederick News (Aug 31, 1998)
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Tragedy struck the extended Jett family again just months later with the passing of Thomas Edward Jett-Folk, Zachary's infant cousin. Both children are remembered vividly by this beautiful monument that joins Mount Olivet's "Monument Hall of Fame."
Perusing newspaper editions from spring of 1998, I found a couple articles pertaining to Zachary's untimely passing and work done to assist his loving classmates and the community in general.
Frederick News (April 15, 1998)
Frederick News (May 20, 1998)
Zachary's death has had a profound effect on Zachary's father, Bruce Jett, a local businessman in Frederick. Bruce was drawn to honor his son by service to the cemetery his son resides. He has been a faithful member of Mount Olivet's Board of Directors for the past decade.