Bach portrait
June 4, 2014
A private collector in Dortmund recently purchased a portrait for 5,000 euros ($6,800) that is supposed to show the world-famous Baroque composer. Previously, the picture hung in the private collection of a German musicologist, who had bought it in a second-hand bookstore years ago.
Beyond that, however, the history of the picture is unclear, said Reimar Lacher, an art historian at the Gleimhaus literature museum in Halberstadt. Lacher added that the numerous markings on its back panel offer much potential for further investigation.
A number of things suggest the portrait, which measures 25 by 35 centimeters and is in bad condition, could be authentic. On the back, Bach's name and the year 1737 are written. The question is whether the image was modeled on the living Bach and, as such, could offer new insight into his appearance. A group of experts centering around the internationally renowned Bach expert Martin Geck convened publicly on Monday (02.06.2014) at Dortmund's technical university to issue a statement on the pastel portrait.
After initial investigations, the experts announced the picture shows several signs of authenticity: the wooden frame and back board, for example, stem from the Bach era. Other than that, however, the members of the symposium remained guarded. They cannot say with certainty that the portrait is authentic - a designation scholars have thus far reserved solely for an oil painting by Elias Gottlob Haussmann from the year 1746, for which Bach stood as a model. That portrait hangs in a city hall building in Leipzig, the composer's home for twenty-seven years.
The panel of experts noted that even conducting a precise analysis of the facial features in the new portrait in comparison with those in the Haussmann piece could be inconclusive. Investigating the etchings on the back board could prove more interesting: two letters on the inscriptions appear unusual for Bach's time, said Peter Wollny, head of Leipzig's Bach Archive.
The experts have ruled out the possibility of attributing the painting to an artist who created portraits of Bach's sons in their early years. A comparative study was undertaken at the Bach House in Eisenach, but no similarities emerged.
Earlier this year, the Bach House in Eisenach purchased a portrait of the composer for 50,000 euros, which it considers to be authentic. In 1927-28, the pastel was part of the famed Bach collection held by Manfred Gorke. When his holdings were split up, the Bach picture passed into the hands of a private individual in Berlin and had since vanished from the public eye.
pz / gsw (dpa / berliner zeitung)