ViolaManoGirolamoLibri1520L, Girolamo dai Libri, circa 1520

Caption quoted from wikipedia:en:vihuela: detail from a madonna enthroned en:altarpiece by girolamo dai libri, italian painter, c. 1520. Featured is an angel playing a six-course viola da mano (or vihuela de mano). Notice the sharp waist-cuts on this instrument. This is not a fluke or one-off. More than half of the instruments seen in surviving early vihuela/viola iconography have such cuts. Date: circa 1520.