Carl Friedrich Abel
Thomas Gainsborough (1727–88)
Carl Friedrich Abel, ca. 1777
Oil on canvas
88 3/4 x 59 1/2 in. (225.4 x 151.1 cm)
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino
Image © Courtesy of the Huntington Art Museum
Said to have lived with his walls covered in Gainsborough's drawings, the German Carl Friedrich Abel (1725–1787) served as chamber musician (with his compatriot Johann Christian Bach) to Queen Charlotte, who once owned this portrait. For this likeness of the composer at work, which may have been intended for Abel and Bach's concert hall in Hanover Square, Gainsborough pictures his friend as if struck by inspiration as he composes for the viola da gamba (precursor to the cello), resting against his leg. The tempo notation allegro ("cheerful") is legible on the score. Abel's other hand rests on a gold snuffbox, possibly a gift from Frederick William of Prussia. Abel was described as "a tall, big, portly person, with a waistcoat under which might easily have been buttoned twin brothers." Gainsborough portrays him elegantly in sumptuous attire—from his bagwig to his brown coat lined in blue satin to leather shoes fastened with buckles—giving no hint of his financial troubles. The composer's snoozing Pomeranian adds an informality to the scene, which was praised at the Royal Academy as "the finest modern portrait" critics had seen.
Transcript
Speaker: Aimee Ng
Gainsborough finally made the move to the capital city, London, in 1774. By now, he was one of the most sought-after society portraitists in the nation, and he sometimes struggled to keep up with the demands of what he referred to, in frustration, as that “curs’d face business.” But he also painted portraits for his friends as gifts or exchanged portraits for something musical, like an instrument or lessons.
He painted this full-length, for example, of his dear friend, the German composer and musician Carl Friedrich Abel, possibly to hang in the concert hall that Abel performed at with Johann Christian Bach. Both Germans were chamber musicians to Queen Charlotte, who also once owned this portrait. It is a flattering image of Abel, who was otherwise described as a portly person, in the midst of composing for his viola da gamba, the instrument resting at his leg. His fine clothing and the gold snuffbox on the table give no hint that Abel was in financial straits.
When Gainsborough showed this portrait at the Royal Academy, critics hailed it as “the finest modern portrait” they had seen, a painting that both caught your eye from a distance and rewarded close looking at its details. Gainsborough imbues the portrait with a sense of relaxed informality, especially through the snoozing dog, which was Abel’s pet Pomeranian. Though pet portraiture was not a particularly fashionable or lucrative business, Gainsborough made an independent portrait of Abel’s Pomeranian with a pup (displayed nearby), which he reportedly gave to Abel in exchange for music lessons. Gainsborough gave as much personality and character to the dogs as he did their owner. Gainsborough painted his last self-portrait for Abel, displayed in this gallery; but Abel died before he could give it to him.