Attributed to Thomas Beach

Private collection, Italy;

From whom acquired by the present owner in the 1960s.

This painting, attributed to Thomas Beach and dating to the last decades of the eighteenth-century, shows a group of musicians gathered in a classical interior. It is likely that the three gentleman are amateur music makers, which was an increasing phenomenon amongst men in eighteenth-century England.¹

The scene seems to revolve around the performance of a piece of music offered by a composer on the far left. On the right is a musician holding two baroque recorders of descant and treble pitches, respectively. Resting on the table is a baroque hautboy (oboe) with its reed detached. The display of these varying instruments seem to suggest the musician in red was a proud multi-instrumentalist, whose apparent skills were captured for posterity in this painting.

The gentleman in the center, who is observing the music-making, seems to be holding a walking cane which might double up as a musical instrument. His finger positioning on the cane is also suggestive of this. Such concealed instruments became popular during the eighteenth-century, although the curious silver attachment does not correspond to any known bocal types (metal pipes attached to wind instruments) of the period.

Although the contented expressions of the sitters seems to suggest that the music making was harmonious, William Jackson of Exeter's (1730–1803) quip of such gatherings should never be forgotten in such instances: 'How often do presumptive amateurs spoil the success of a concert by contributing their efforts under the mistaken conviction that they are adding to the enjoyment of the affair, whereas in reality they only giving offence to the unfortunate composer of the music?'²

Thomas Beach is recorded as having been an active member of the music scene in Bath and London.³ His known associates in this particular field of the arts included Dr Henry Harington (1727–1816), founder of the Bath Harmonic Society, the actor John Henderson (1747–1785) and the composer, performer and Director of the Bath Concerts, Venanzio Rauzzini (1746–1810). Beach had also produced portraits of the singer and organist Joseph Corfe (1740–1820) and the Italian castrato Giuto Fernando Tenducci (1734/5–1790). In addition to these connections, the central figure of this painting has been suggested to bear a passing likeness to the diarist James Boswell (1740–1795), who was a known player of the flute.

We are grateful to David Lasocki and Nicholas Lander for their assistance in identifying the instruments in this painting.

¹ R. Leppert, Music and Image: Domesticity Ideology and Socio-cultural Formation in Eighteenth-century England, Cambridge 1993, pp. 107–46.

² Leppert 1993, p. 11.

³ R.W.M. Wright, 'The City of Bath in English Art', in Apollo, vol. 5, 1927, p. 202.