I once saw a painting on a website that no longer exists.
It featured a Catholic clergyman, probably a cardinal or an archbishop (he was dressed in red and white), with a violin in his left hand, and a violin bow in his right hand, with which he was threatening to strike an exotic pet bird that was sitting on a gilded pole and was posturing aggressively towards him.
The violin and bow looked fairly like today’s instruments, so the painting must have been made during the late classical / early romantic period.
Ugh, why did I write “Renaissance” in the title? The picture is almost definitely not from the Renaissance.
Also, I swear this painting exists, as silly as it sounds. I didn’t dream it up.
Pinning down such a painting might be difficult, as in the nineteenth century there was a whole genre of paintings of cardinals doing informal things. There are literally hundreds of paintings of that type and quite often they feature violins or parrots. Most of them are just as silly as the one you describe.
Putting this one at the front of my “You Learn Something New Every Day” file 
You are amazing! Yes, Croegaert’s style matches exactly the style of the paiting I remember. High colour saturation and brightness of the subjects, insconpicuous backgrunds. This brings me much closer.
He was gonna tune the bird up, huh?
I found some interesting stuff this afternoon, but now that we have some names/clues it narrows it down…how about this?
http://cultured.com/images/image_files/2864/3785_o_georges_croegaert___the_parrot.jpg
Close, but no violin. My cardinal definitely had a violin, and the bird wasn’t a parrot, though its posture was very similar.
It’s been 3 years, and I finally found it!
The painter was Albert Joseph Penòt. I wasn’t able to find the title, though.
Says here The Consequence Of Interruption
Apollon, thanks for the update.
Thank you! My life is complete now. 
Seeing those paintings makes me think how someone must have been used to pose for those (including standing around holding a bow in mid-swing) and that made me think of With You Always.