George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) composer

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Government Art Collection

This work is wrongly attributed to William Hogarth on the print itself. In fact it was painted by Bartholomew Dandridge. Questions have also been raised over whether the work represents the composer George Frederic Handel. An oil-on-canvas copy of the portrait is held in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. However, the whereabouts of the original work is currently unknown.

Portrait painter Bartholomew Dandridge was born in London; the son of a house painter. From 1712 he studied at Kneller's academy and later at the St Martin's Lane Academy. For more than 40 years Dandridge ran a successful and fashionable portrait practice. However, he is now best-known for conversation pieces in the rococo style. In 1731 he purchased the studio and house of Godfrey Kneller in Great Queen Street. He received a commission to paint Frederick, Prince of Wales on horseback in 1732 (National Portrait Gallery), for which the prince sat three times. During the 1730s he produced designs for book plates, in particular twelve for François Nivelon’s ‘Rudiments of Genteel Behaviour’ (1737). His last recorded work was painted in 1754.
Charles Turner was born in Woodstock, Oxfordshire; the son of an excise officer. At a young age he moved to London, where he was apprenticed to engraver John Jones and studied at the Royal Academy schools. He later produced work in mezzotint, aquatint and stipple for publishers in London and Scotland. He also began publishing his own prints in 1796. In 1812 he was appointed Engraver-in-Ordinary to George III. He was elected an associate of the Royal Academy in 1828. Throughout his career he is thought to have produced 638 portrait engravings and over 300 subject engravings. These were generally made after works by contemporary artists, such as Raeburn, Lawrence and J. M. W. Turner, with whom the engraver enjoyed a long standing friendship.

People

George Frideric Handel (1685 - 1759)

Places

Subjects

composer, classical music, musician, musical score, male portrait, 18th century costume, column

Materials & Techniques

mezzotint

Artist

Bartholomew Dandridge (1691 - c.1754)
Charles Turner (1774 - 1857)

Title

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) composer

Date

published 4 April 1821

Medium

Mezzotint

Dimensions

height: 53.00 cm, width: 37.20 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from Grosvenor Prints, March 2001

Provenance

Grosvenor Prints, London

GAC number

17602