A portrait by Thomas Gainsborough, which was previously unknown, was discovered. The painting depicts a man holding a manuscript of music.
When the painting was discovered, it was obscured due to the layers of dirt, discolored varnished, and shoddy overpaint, said Hugh Belsey, former director of Gainsborough’s House. The work has since undergone a preservation, illuminating the artist’s brilliant use of color.
The man who the artist portrayed in the painting is a Czech composer and violinist Antonín Kammel, who worked in Britain from 1765 until his death in 1784, Belsey believes. He was well-known in his day, though his influence has largely faded from memory. Kammel was a peer of Johann Christian Bach, the son of Johann Sebastian Bach, and a leading composer in London. Gainsborough’s son-in-law, the oboist and composer Johann Fischer, regularly performed with Kammel.
“Gainsborough had a great deal of interest in musicians and likened a picture to a piece of music, once writing: ‘One part of a Picture ought to be like the first part of a Tune; that you can guess what follows, and that makes the second part of the Tune, and so I’ve done,’” Belsey said.