Rucker as a Flemish Name

Grant O'Brien, Ruckers: a Harpsichord and Virginal Building Tradition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990) descibes the Ruckers workshop in the Flemish city of Antwerp as a famous harpsichord atelier, active from active in Antwerp from 1579 to the 1680s.

Links to some pictures of Ruckers harpsichords:

http://www.usd.edu/smm/Ruckersphotos.html. Earliest known harpsichord by Andreas Ruckers the Elder, 1607.

http://jserdult.free.fr/details.htm. Harpschord by Johannes Ruckers, 1624.

http://www.pixton.org/TomsHpschdGallery1.html. A Ruckers harpsichord from 1640.

Instruments believed to be from the Ruckers workshop appear in a number of paintings by Jan Vermeer, including “The Music Lesson.”