Porträt Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643)

Portrait of Girolamo Frescobaldi. The Italian composer and organist is presented here as a chest image facing left. He wears a woam with an outstanding shirt collar. Instead of a wig, he wears short, twisted hair and a short beard. His gaze is sluggish towards the viewer. The effigy is placed in an oval frame, which was attached to a wall with a nail. Under the effigy a sign with nails is attached, followed by a two-line inscription with the name and life data of the depicted. Two branches of laurel cross behind them. The life data in the inscription are incorrect. Girolamo Frescobaldi amazed his audience at the age of 17 with his fantastic organ play. From 1628 to 1633 he was a hoforganist in Florence, then worked as an organist at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. He became famous for his compositions for key instruments; his music influenced many German organ composers. Alfred-François Lemoine made the portrait as lithography and indicated on the left in the motif as the year of origin 1833. In addition, he edited a copper engraving plate for the frame of the image. As a template he certainly used a engraving by Claude Mellan from 1619, who worked in Rome at the same time as Frescobaldi and from whom a engraving is located in the Händel-Haus Foundation (BS-III 275). This portrait lithography was published in 1867 in the following publication: Amédée Méreaux: Les Clavecinistes de 1637 à 1790. 52 liv. (History du Clavecin, portraits et biographies, etc.) in Paris near Heugel & Cie. Signature: Alfred Lemoine lith. Imp. Bertauts, Paris. Édition-Mereaux. Hay & C.IE Editeurs. Au Ménestrel, second to rue Vivienne. Caption: Les Clavecinistes. Girolamo Frescobaldi. Né à Ferrare en 1587. Mort à Rome en 1654. [Handwritten] Alfred Lemoine 1833. (Stiftung Händel-Haus Halle Foundation)