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ca. 1733 ca. 1741 1746 1747 1748 1750

Index Page at The Face Of Bach
Welcome! Sei willkommen! Soyez les bienvenus! Benvenuti!


The Face Of Bach


News About The Bach Portraits! ~~~ ~ ~~~ Links - Bach and Non-Bach


This remarkable photograph is not a computer generated composite; the original of the Weydenhammer Portrait Fragment, all that remains of the portrait of Johann Sebastian Bach that belonged to his pupil Johann Christian Kittel, is resting gently on the surface of the original of the 1748 Elias Gottlob Haussmann Portrait of Johann Sebastian Bach.

1092-18A-0635.jpg  Loading 64973 bytes
1748 Elias Gottlob Haussmann Portrait, Courtesy of William H. Scheide, Princeton, New Jersey
Weydenhammer Portrait Fragment, ca. 1733, Artist Unknown, Courtesy of the Weydenhammer Descendants
Photograph by Teri Noel Towe
©Teri Noel Towe, 2001, All Rights Reserved


New at The Face Of Bach!


Added on August 24, 2001

The Meiningen Pastel - Bach Through The Eyes of His Relatives

The Portrait of Bach That Was Lost In World War Two
An Authentic "Alternative" to the Haussmann Image of Johann Sebastian Bach in his early 60s


Added on August 11, 2001

The Portrait That Does NOT Depict Johann Sebastian Bach and Three of His Sons

The Portrait in Erfurt Alleged to Depict Bach, Weimar Concertmeister
Is this young man really Johann Sebastian Bach?


Added on April 2, 2001

QuinSee™, Jay DeBoer's New Digital Photo Superimposition Program, Meets The Bach Portraits!


Added on March 21, 2001

The Lecture at Queens College of the City University of New York:
The Face Of Bach - The Search for the Portrait that Belonged to Kittel


Added on December 4, 2014

Bach in Arts - Bach Portraits on Bach Cantatas Website

Discussions of Face of Bach on Bach Mailing Lists


Welcome to The Face Of Bach.

The Face Of Bach is a website devoted to the portraits of Johann Sebastian Bach, and to the fair and accurate analysis of the various images that purport to be accurate depictions of the facial features of Johann Sebastian Bach.

As I continue to develop this site, I hope to offer thorough evaluations of the various Bach portraits and to provide information on the source materials that are the foundation for any discussion of the portraits of Johann Sebastian Bach.

When I opened this website, on July 31, 2000, the 250th anniversary of the interment of the mortal remains of Johann Sebastian Bach in the Johanneskirchof on what were then the outskirts of the City of Leipzig, I announced to the world the existence of a previously unknown portrait of Johann Sebastian Bach. After 191 years, the long lost portrait of Bach that had belonged to his devoted pupil Johann Christian Kittel had finally turned up!

Because of the interest that the announcement engendered, I quickly built a series of pages about the Bach Portraits. Because so much refinement and revision of those pages is needed, all but two of them have been removed from the website for that purpose.

However, in place of those pages, I am pleased to present a series of pages containing the text of the presentation that I made on March 21, 2001, at Queens College of the City University of New York, together with the accompanying illustrations.

In this presentation, which I made on the 316th anniversary of Bach's birth, I not only offered proof that the Weydenhammer Portrait Fragment is an accurate depiction of the face of a Johann Sebastian Bach about 15 years younger than the Johann Sebastian Bach of the familiar Haussmann portraits, but also demonstrated why the Weydenhammer Portrait Fragment is what remains of the portrait of Bach that belonged to his pupil Johann Christian Kittel.

Please click on 1092-18A-0100v.jpg  Loading 35034 bytes or on the presentation title to read the Queens College Lecture of March 21, 2001, which is entitled The Face Of Bach - The Search for the Portrait that Belonged to Kittel.

I have retained two pages from the previous incarnation of The Face Of Bach.

One such page is devoted to the Volbach portrait, the portrait of Bach in the last months of his life. I am about to embark on a thorough evaluation of this extraordinary image, which I have long been convinced is an authentic portrait from life, using a recently made 8x10 transparency as the basis for my analysis. In the meantime, please click on 1750Volbach1955Postcard-if-0100.jpg  Loading 43854 bytes or on the page title to read The Inscrutable Volbach Portrait, which contains the preliminary results of my analysis of this powerful painting.

The other such page, which I admit badly needs "tweaking",  is devoted to a discussion of the first portrait print of Johann Sebastian Bach. This print was engraved by S. G. Kütner, a schoolmate of one of JSB's grandsons. Please click on his33t5-0100.jpg  Loading 37025 bytes or on the page title to read The S. G. Kütner Engraving of 1774.

Since I first updated The Face Of Bach, on April 2, 2001, I have been compelled, serendipitously and fortuitously, to deal with The Group Portrait that is alleged to depict Johann Sebastian Bach and three of his sons and that some scholars attribute to Balthasar Denner. To read my analysis of this fascinating image and consider my conclusions about it who it really depicts, please click on abgp85link.jpg  Loading 44864 bytes or on the page's title, The Portrait That Does NOT Depict J. S. Bach With Three of his Sons. Those of you who have read this discussion since it was first posted may now want to look at the bottom of the second page again, because, since I posted these pages initially, I have added two Addenda that contain exciting new information about the provenance of the Group Portrait, including a photograph of one of the two exemplars of the portrait that was taken when it was exhibited in 1904!

I also have responded to the many requests that I have received for an evaluation of the portrait in the city museum in Erfurt that purports to depict Bach while court organist and Concertmeister in Weimar. Even though you may not be ecstatic about the answer given to the question that is posed, please click on 0100xABB1link.jpg  Loading 38977 bytes or on the page's title to read The Portrait in Erfurt Alleged to Depict Bach, the Weimar Concertmeister - Is this young man really Johann Sebastian Bach?.

The pressures of my law practice and the pressing need to attend to important family matters notwithstanding, I at last am able to provide an updated version of the page on the Meiningen Pastel that was "on line" at the original version of The Face Of Bach. Please click on GFBMPDJB010100link.html  Loading 39727 bytes or on the page's title to read The Meiningen Pastel - Bach Through The Eyes Of His Relatives.

Lastly, I have added a discussion of one of the least known of the Bach Portraits, one that sadly disappeared during World War Two, and one that not only is an accurate depiction of the facial features of Johann Sebastian Bach but also a portrait from life, a portrait that almost certainly was commissioned by one of Bach's best known, most devoted, and most generous patrons. Please click on 1959BrA60100link.jpg  Loading 38510 bytes or on the page's title to read The Portrait of Bach That Was Lost In World War Two - An Authentic "Alternative" to the Haussmann Image of Johann Sebastian Bach in his early 60s.

With all best wishes,

Teri Noel Towe
April 26, 2002

P. S.:

If you are interested in receiving occasional notices about updates to The Face Of Bach, please subscribe to the e-mail list that I have established at YahooGroups.com; for further information, please point your browser to: TheFaceOfBach Mailing List at YahooGroups

TNT



News About The Bach Portraits! ~~~ ~ ~~~ Links - Bach and Non-Bach


Please click on  to visit the Johann Sebastian Bach Index Page at Teri Noel Towe's Homepages.

Please click on the crabby2.jpg  Loading 39744 bytes to visit the Teri Noel Towe Welcome Page.


TheFaceOfBach@aol.com


Copyright, Teri Noel Towe, 2000, 2001, 2002
Unless otherwise credited, all images of the Weydenhammer Portrait:  Copyright, The Weydenhammer Descendants, 2000
All Rights Reserved

The Face Of Bach
Remains Profoundly Grateful to
The Rainbow Flag Civic Center

For Providing the Cyberspace for The Face Of Bach
For the First Eight Years of Its Existence.
Thank you, Nathan P. Johansen!
The Face Of Bach
Now Is Profoundly Grateful to
The Bach Cantatas Website

For Providing The Face Of Bach
With a New Home.
Thank you, Aryeh Oron!


The Face Of Bach is a PPP Free Early Music website.
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ca. 1733 ca. 1741 1746 1747 1748 1750



 

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Last update: Sunday, July 02, 2017 03:50