Porträt Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787)

Portrait of Christoph Willibald Gluck. The German composer is presented here as a chest pattern in the half profile facing to the right. He turned his head towards the observer, but his gaze is pointed upwards. He wears simple clothes. The effigy has a massive, oval frame made of stone. This rests on a sockel-like parapet. There is a laurel branch in front of the effigy. A French saying is written on the parapet. Christoph Willibald Gluck is considered an important reformer of the opera. In 1737 he met the nature of an orchestra in Milan, was trained as a composer and celebrated his first successes on stage. Next he moved through Europe and made a trip to London. He finally settled in Vienna as Kapellmeister; the performance of his “Antigono” in Rome in 1756 earned him the title of Knight of the Golden Spur, awarded by the Pope. A little later he even became a court master in Vienna and turned to the French comic opera. Joseph Siffred Duplessis’s oil painting is considered a template. It was built around 1775 and now hangs in the Museum of Art History in Vienna. The leaf was cut by the French copper engraver Simon Charles Miger (1736-1820). The heliographer, now available, was produced by the court and state printing company in Vienna. The Austrian National Library in Vienna therefore has two copies of the book in its collection. Signature: J. Duplessis pinx. S.C. Miger scp. Heliographers from the German Hof- und StaatsHein Vienna. Label: [motif] CHRISTOPHE GLUCK. De l “art d” aller au coer par des accords touchantee Nul autre mieux, que lui n “a montre la paissance, Et de tous ses rivaux c” est le seul dont les chants Ayent, charme son pays, I 'Italie et la France. Christoph Willibald Gluck. Geb. 2 July 1714. Gest. 15 November 1787 (17Händel-Haus Halle Foundation)