Even in the 18th century the bell harp never enjoyed the popularity of some other instruments such as the wire-strung guittar, and by the middle of the 19th century it was quite obscure. “A stringed instrument, but little known or used” (W.West’s Dictionary; of nearly 4000 Musical Terms, 1850) and ‘Bell Harp…is alike rarely seen or described’. (John Dalyell, Musical Memoirs of Scotland, 1849).
Dalyell’s Memoir was published in 1849, a year after the founding of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Surprisingly, bell harps, or depictions of instruments more or less resembling bell harps, began to appear in Pre-Raphaelite paintings. Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s triptych,The Seed of David, for example, is from 1858 (see below). This unexpected interest of the Pre-Raphelites in the bell harp was noted by A.J. Hipkins in 1888. In his book Musical Instruments, Historic, Rare and Unique, he writes:
“The Bell Harp, although it appears in modern pre-Raphaelite painting and is a kind of wire-strung psaltery, cannot be classified as a medieval instrument, as it dates only from about the year 1700.”
The reasons Hipkins gives for the year 1700 were unfounded (see here) but, as the earliest known reference to the bell harp is from 1730, the bell harp probably did appear some time in the early 18th century in Britain. Hipkins was correct; the bell harp is not a medieval instrument, and yet it found a place in the strange, faux medieval world of the Pre-Raphaelites.
Take, as an example,The Lament, 1866, a watercolour by Edward Burne-Jones. The Lament is said to have been inspired by his study of the Parthenon frieze (447-432 BCE) in the British Museum. A musical instrument is prominent in the composition and Burne-Jones has not chosen a more obvious, classical, musical instrument such as the lyre or a harp.The instrument does indeed look like a bell harp.