C.P.E. Bach. Portrait of the composer probably by J.F. Reifenstein, c.1754

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

The celebrated portrait of the composer attributed to A.F. Oeser, but probably by J.F. Reifenstein

executed in graphite, black chalk and pastel on paper, inscribed beneath the image in a contemporary hand ("Emmanuel Bach von A. F, Oeser"), framed and glazed, 27 x 30cm, [c.1754]

ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS AND OFT-REPRODUCED IMAGES OF C.P.E. BACH.

It was C.P.E. Bach himself who cast doubt on whether this was an original portrait (it is confidently ascribed below the image to A.F. Oeser, the sometime teacher of Bach's talented artist son, Johann Sebastian) or a contemporary copy by J.F. Reifenstein. In a letter to the music historian Forkel, dated 20 April 1774, Emanuel writes: "Who then painted the portrait of me that you own? Perhaps it is a copy by Herr Reifenstein, who painted me with dry colours. Perhaps I will be fortunate enough to present to you a clean engraving of my portrait, if it would be otherwise of value to you. The one you have does not have any wrinkles, but the one I hope to send you will have all the more."

The present portrait shows Emanuel fresh-faced and indeed relatively wrinkle-free and was evidently executed when the composer was still in his prime, around forty years of age. Reifenstein, who specialised in pastel painting, lived from 1719 to 1793 and spent his last decades in Rome, where he cared for Emanuel's son Johann Sebastian during his final illness there. Emanuel wrote to Oeser in 1777 that his son had been well looked after by Reifenstein ("...The honourable Reifenstein has been like a father to him...").

LITERATURE:

S.L. Clark, The Letters of C.P.E. Bach (Oxford, 1987); H.G. Ottenberg, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (Oxford, 1987); E.F. Schmidt, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach und seine Kammermusik (Kassel, 1931).