Porträt Richard Fitzwilliam (1745-1816)

Portrait of Richard Fitzwilliam. The Irish antiquary sits here as a whole figure facing to the right in a three-quarter profile in a chair with backrests and looks benevolently towards the viewer. His right arm rests on a chair back, his left arm lying on an open book lying on a table in front of him. The table with blanket houses more books. The depicted one carries a shirt, vest and a coat with fur hem and stays in a room, as a paneling with cannized pilasters and curtain can be seen in the background. Richard Fitzwilliam was a collector, music lover and benefactor. After his father died, he took over his title as the 7th Viscount Fitzwilliam of Merrion. Before his death he bequeathed his library and art objects to the University of Cambridge; the Fitzwilliam Museum was created. Today’s Fitzwilliam Museum houses the Barrett Lennard Collection, which contains numerous early handwritten sources about Georg Friedrich Händel’s work. The present leaf is executed as a scrapie. In the inscription it is explained in Latin that this representation shows Richard Fitzwilliam at the age of 64, so the picture should have been created around 1809, but perhaps later. Other copies of this paper are available at the National Portrait Gallery and the British Museum in London. Signature: H. Howard Esqr R. A. Pinxt. Chas. Turner, Sculpt. Caption: Richard Viscount Fitzwilliam. Anno Aet. LXIV. Anno Cathedral. MDCCCIX. (Stiftung Händel-Haus Halle Foundation)