Porträt Georg Friedrich Händel

One recognizes a plastic stuffed base on which instruments and sheet music are arranged: a harp, a horn, a trumpet and a deferred notebook. Above it is an oval portrait of Handel without wig, which acts like a relief of stone (or like a medal). All around the effigy leads a plant garland, decorated with a loop at the top and lying between the instruments at the bottom of the base. Since this sheet is the ticket for the first event of the trade in Commemoration on 26 May 1784 in Westminster Abbey, the assumption that the base could be its sarcophagus is rather obvious. However, the tomb there of Roubiliac, which was probably unveiled in 1762, does not correspond to that shown here. The engraving was also printed in Burney: An account of the musical performances in Westmenster Abbey (...), London 1785. The illustration was later a common example. The National Portrait Gallery has the same engraving, the British Museum even several variants. Artist’s signature: B. Rebecca del.t J. K. Sherwin Engraver to his Majesty & his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, Sculpsit." Inscription: [On the base:] WESTMINSTER ABBEY | COMMEMORATION | OF HANDEL. | MAY XXVI DCCLXXXIV. ((Händel-Haus Halle Foundation)