Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 1.djvu/668

656 full of fire and dignity. His general look was somewhat heavy and sour, but when he did smile it was the sun bursting out of a black cloud. There was a sudden flash of intelligence, wit, and good humour, beaming in his countenance which I hardly ever saw in any other.' 'His smile was like heaven.' To this Hawkins adds that 'his gait was ever sauntering, with somewhat of a rocking motion.'

Of portraits of Handel there is a multitude. Several were executed in marble by Roubilliac; one, a bust, presented to George III, with the original MSS. and Handel's harpsichord, by Smith; another, also a bust (1738), bought by Bartleman at the sale of the properties at Vauxhall, and bought at his sale again by Mr. Pollock, who presented it to the Foundling Hospital; another, a bust, in the collection of Mr. Alfred Morrison; fourthly, the Vauxhall statue (1738), now the property of the Sacred Harmonic Society, Roubilliac's first work, in which the association of the commonplace dress of the figure with the lyre and naked Cupid is very ludicrous; and lastly, the statue in the monument in Westminster Abbey, which, in spite of the French affectation of the pose, is one of the best portraits of the master, the head having been taken from a mould of his face taken after death by Roubilliac, and said to have been afterwards touched upon by him, the eyes opened, etc. A reproduction of this occurs in 'The Mirror' for July 19, 1834, from which it is here engraved.



Of pictures, the one by Denner, a very unsatisfactory portrait, was given by Lady Rivers to the Sacred Harmonic Society; another, hardly more trustworthy, by G. A. Wolffgang, is in the collection of Mr. Snoxell. Two by Hudson are in the possession of the Royal Society of Musicians, while another, said to be the original, was described by Forstemann (1844) as belonging to the granddaughters of Handel's niece, Johanna Friderica Flörchen, at Halle. It is doubtful if this latter exists. There is, however, an undoubted original by Hudson, signed, 1756, at Gopsall, and a duplicate of it, slightly different, in Buckingham Palace. Another, a capital little head, by Grafoni, is in the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge, to which it was presented by the Rev. E. Ward [App. p.664 "Rev. A. R. Ward"]. A portrait by Thornhill is also in that Museum, and another by the same (1720), representing Handel at the organ, said to have been painted for the Duke of Chandos, was in the possession of the late Mr. Ellerton. Lastly, a little picture, signed 'F. Kyte, 1742,' which belonged formerly to Mr. Keith Milnes, who gave it to Mr. Rolfe, from whose heirs it passed into th possession of the writer, was the original of Houbraken's engraving, and probably also of that by Schmidt, which is very rare. It is reproduced by Hawkins, who pronounces it to be 'the only good one, but that the features are too prominent.'

The Vauxhall statue was copied by Bartolozzi for Dr. Arnold's edition of Handel's works, for which Heath engraved an apotheosis for which the portrait was taken from another picture (said to be) by Hudson in Dr. Arnold's possession. The bust was copied by Chambars for Mainwaring's 'Life of Handel;' and the monument, by Delattre, for Burney's 'Commemoration.' Denner's picture was engraved by E. Harding for the 'Anecdotes of G. F. Handel and J. C. Smith.' Hudson's portrait at Gopsall was copied in mezzotint, and very badly, for Dr. Arnold's edition, and again engraved by Thompson, and others; the picture belonging to the Royal Society of Musicians was copied in mezzotint by J. Faber in 1748, and again in 1749, the first being now very rare. This was copied by Miller (of Dublin) and Hardy, and in line by W. Bromley, Sichling, and a host of minor artists. An engraved portrait published by Breitkopf and Härtel is also scarce. The picture by G. A. Wolffgang was engraved by J. G. Wolffgang at Berlin, the name being spelled (in the first state) HENDEL. A good profile, not improbably from Mr. Morrison's bust, was attached to the word-books of the Commemoration of 1784, of which the accompanying cut is a faithful copy, slightly reduced. A curious but, probably, untrustworthy lithograph was