B-04

Type:

Bach Painting

Title:

Copy after Haussmann, c1830

Description:

Originally believed to be a Haussmann original, but on grounds of painting technique declared by Kurzwelly (II) in 1914 to be a copy dating from about 1830, very probably of another lost Haussmann picture - perhaps of Johann Friedrich Reichardt's portrait which disappeared after 1814 (cf. p. 399) - because of striking discrepancies between it and the Thomasschule portrait, e. g. the larger size with a resultant shift in proportions, the extension of the subject portrayed, the position of the canon-sheet, different color values, etc. Since the specifications mentioned are however also untypical of Haussmann’s style it is more likely that the 19^th-century copyist did not intend to make an exact replica of his model but a free imitation in the romantic style, which is particularly expressed in the weakening of the canon-sheet's baroque symbolism by turning it away from the viewer and drawing it further into the centre of the picture. Incidentally the musical notation has been corrupted and the signature is missing (Raupach, Freyse VI, Dadelsen I). The model, in spite of Kurzwelly (II), may well have been the Thomasschule portrait, because of the obvious similarities with the corresponding central part of the copy.

Measures:

Oil on canvas
90.5 x 74.5 cm
Unsigned.

Creator:

Painter: Unknown
Year: c1830

History:

Sequence of ownership: c1830 - music publisher Johann Anton Andre (1775-1842), Offenbach; 1887 - Rühlscher Gesangverein, Frankfurt on Main; Paul Hirsch's (1881-1951) collection, Frankfurt until 1937, thereafter Cambridge, England; 1946 - British Museum, London.

Current Location:

The British Museum, London

Photograph by:

The British Museum, London

Comments:

Buy item at:

N/A

Source/Links: Bach-Dokumente IV (1979)
Contributor: Thomas Braatz (December 2007)