Handel portrait by Christoph Platzer
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| Portrait of Georg Friedrich Händel (reproduction photography of the miniature) |
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| Christoph Platzer , c. 1710 |
| Miniature, watercolor and gouache on parchment |
| 67.7 x 47.8 cm |
| Handel House in Halle (Saale) (stolen 1948) |
The Handel portrait by Christoph Platzer from around 1710 is a miniature by the painter Christoph Platzer by Georg Friedrich Handel . It is considered to be the oldest authentic portrait of the baroque composer. The painting with the signature BS-I 045 was stolen from the Handel house in Halle an der Saale in 1948 and has since been considered lost.
history
Based on the physiognomic characteristics (after Bernd Baselt and Edwin Werner ) and the comparisons with other portraits, the Handel House assumes an authentic Handel portrait. Little is known about the provenance of the painting. In any case, it was owned by the art collectors Francis and Minnie Wellesley at the beginning of the 20th century .
Handel researchers are unclear as to when the background of the work became known: Edwin Werner (2017) pointed out that the painting was already in 1914 in the catalog A Hand-list of the miniatures and portraits in plumbago or pencil belonging to Francis and Minnie Wellesley was adequately recorded. Hans Joachim Marx (2017) assumed that it was first assigned to the painter Christoph Platzer, unknown in England, in the course of a catalog publication by the art historian George C. Williamson in 1918 . Williamson, who exchanged ideas with publisher Newman Flower , may have seen the wig resembling the Handel portrait by Thomas Hudson (1756) in the National Portrait Gallery in London. Werner doubts whether Flower, who was probably not known as a Handel luminary before 1918/19, was the main keyword here.
On 28 June 1920 the Miniature when was Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge in London (Los 624) for only 33 British pounds to the art lovers Byam Shaw auctioned . A first copy was made in Connaisseur in 1918 , and a later in 1923 in Flowers Handel biography. After the music historian Edward Dent pointed out the Handel find in a memorial speech in 1935, the city of Halle intervened. The latter acquired the miniature from the London antiquarian and art dealer Percy H. Muir for 950 British pounds.
The miniature with the signature BS-I 045 was stolen from the Music Museum under mysterious circumstances before the opening of the Handel House in Halle an der Saale in 1948 and has since been considered lost. Marx left it open as to whether it would not go to the Soviet Union as looted art like other objects . Werner attributed the theft more to the valuable frame.
All that has been preserved is a monochrome negative from the late 1930s, which was made by the photographer Gerhard Roth at the time . A description of the original in the 1920 auction catalog mentions a white tie (or silk scarf) and blue coat. The miniature was in an oval, silver filigree frame decorated with precious stones . This type of frame existed in the early 18th century, but was rare, and may have been added later. A presumed signature cannot be determined from the photo.
On the occasion of the Handel anniversary in 1985, the Handel House commissioned a replica from the Dessau restorer Luzie Schneider , which took the photo and the description as a basis. Schneider's work can be seen today in the permanent exhibition in the Handel House (BS-I 065).
literature
- Hans Joachim Marx : On the authenticity of the Handel portrait by Christoph Platzer (around 1710) . In: Göttinger Handel Contributions 17 (2017), pp. 97–110.
- Edwin Werner : Georg Friedrich Handel miniature by Georg Platzer, around 1710 . In: Handel House Communications 1 (1992), pp. 22-23.
- Edwin Werner: Do we have to "copy" the Handel picture by Chistoph Platzer? . In: Händel-Jahrbuch 63 (2017), pp. 229–236.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Handel portraits in the collections of the Handel House Foundation . Compiled and edited by Edwin Werner. Friends and sponsors of the Handel House in Halle, Halle (Saale) 2013, ISBN 978-3-930550-98-2 , p. 11.