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The Portraits of George Frideric Handel
I am going to begin this survey of the many portraits of George Frideric Handel, authentic and inauthentic, with an image that is not often seen. It is the frontispiece of the first biography of the composer. Written by his friend John Mainwaring, who certainly got most of his information from the composer himself, the book appeared in 1760, a year after Handel's death. The portrait, for which no original painting or drawing is known to survive, shows Handel in casual attire in 1741, the year he composed "Messiah".
Another unusual and generally unknown image is a little portrait that is reproduced in an article on Handelian that appeared in the December 14, 1893, issue of "The Musical Times". It is a portrait miniature, set into a ring, a ring that Handel is said to have given to a good friend in 1755. I know nothing of this image other than the reference and the engraving of it in this 1893 article on Handel association pieces, and I reproduce it here in the hope that another Handelian may have greater and more current knowledge of it.
Another equally unfamiliar portrait of Handel reproduced in that 1893 article is a miniature by Zincke, which depicts a much younger man..
The Musical Times Article contains reproductions of several other portraits, at least three of which are among the most familiar. The first of these is the portrait by Balthasar Denner that is now in the National Portrait Gallery in London.
Almost as well known is the so-called "Chandos Portrait" by Sir John Thornhill, now in the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. Said to have been painted for the Duke of Chandos about 1720, it depicts the composer in casual dress, at the keyboard; he was 35.
Ironically, the most often seen portrait of the composer is the memorial effigy in the "Poet's Corner" in Westminster Abbey. The statue was carved by Louis Francois Roubilliac, who had made several such sculptures of the composer, who was a friend, "from the life".
One of the sculptures that Roubilliac carved "from life" made his reputation as a sculptor. This wonderful image of a relaxed Handel strumming a lyre was said to have been so realistic that people who did not know Handel, saw the statue, and then subsequently met the composer on the street recognized him instantly. After Vauxhall Gardens closed, the sculpture passed through many hands, including those of the portrait painter Thomas Hudson, who painted several well known portraits of Handel. I believe the Vauxhall Gardens sculpture is now in the National Portrait Gallery in London.
To be continued....
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Copyright, Teri Noel Towe, 1997
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