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Notes

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Born in Saxony, Handel moved to London in 1712 from the court in Hanover. By 1714 he found himself working for his old master, now George I, for whom he composed the Water Music in 1717. For the next fifty years Handel poured out opera, oratorios and concertos. His Messiah, first performed in Dublin in 1742, was a national institution within his lifetime.

Showing the great composer in old age and by now blind, it was painted for Handel's friend, Charles Jennens, who selected the words for Messiah (the score pictured beside him).

National Portrait Gallery, London

London

Title

George Frideric Handel

Date

1756

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

H 238.8 x W 146.1 cm

Accession number

3970

Acquisition method

Purchased with help from the Handel Appeal Fund and HM Government, 1968

Work type

Painting

National Portrait Gallery, London

St Martin’s Place, London, Greater London WC2H 0HE England

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Artist or maker

Thomas Hudson

1701–1779

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Margaretta Mabella Acworth (1727–1794) English Heritage, Marble Hill House
Reverend Sir Hadley D'Oyly (c.1709–1764) English Heritage, Marble Hill House
Dr John Gilbert, Bishop of Salisbury, Archbishop of York Mount Edgcumbe House
William Davis (d.1765), Member of Council, Calcutta British Library
Richard Bentley (1662–1742), Master (1700–1742), Philologist and Classical Scholar Trinity College, University of Cambridge
Sir Edmund Isham (1690–1772), Fellow (1720–1736) Magdalen College, University of Oxford
Edward Willes (1693–1773), Bishop of Wells (1743–1773) The Bishop's Palace & Gardens
289 more