A Little-Known Portrait Of Handel

In an ante-room of Sir John Soane’s Museum, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, is a medallion portrait of Handel which is practically unknown. No biog­rapher of the master refers to it, and we believe this presentment of the great composer has never before been published. The portrait is in the form of a plaster cast. An expert has declared his belief that this was made from life, and was a model for some monument of Handel; the details, such as the curl of the hair, the coat, necktie, etc., all point to its being the work of Roubiliac. A specially interesting feature of the portrait is the absence of the wig or cap which forms the complement of all other representations of Handel, accessories characteristic of the period. Here we have the composer of the “Messiah” in his unwigged, homely aspect, while the firm mouth, strong chin and massive jaw are quite familiar in all the other portraits of the master.—Musical Times.