A Concert: P.14858-R

Current Location: In storage

Titles

A Concert

Maker(s)

Printmaker: Hume, Abraham
Draughtsman: Orde, Thomas (After)

Entities

Satirical print

Description

Etching on paper. The British Museum identifies two states; the first [1868,0808.4451] is described as the ‘state with less work in the background’ and the second [1852,1211.135] is characterised by areas of white dots/patches, especially at upper left. In BM Satires 4479, F.G. Stephens describes ‘a second impression from this plate, … with less work on it, especially in the background’, but it is not clear if this was a presumption of an additional state. An impression with the same white markings as seen in the Fitzwilliam impression was on sale with print dealer, Andrew Edmunds at the London Original Print Fair, Spring 2018, who described the discrepancies thus: ‘BM 4479 suggesting two states, either there is corrosion or foul biting that is covered by extra work or the plate wears revealing accidental biting. It seems possible that the states are reversed or are simply ‘states’ of gradual wear. This impression shows the white patches that the BM describes as ‘additional work’.' According to the BM’s identification of two states, the Fitzwilliam impression may be categorised as a second state. Other impressions of the second state are at the Royal Academy of Music, 2005.2033 (dots not as pronounced), the Gerald Coke Handel Foundation at the Foundling Museum, 6211 (more patches than dots), the V&A, S.1004-2009 (patches more widespread) and the Rowe Music Library, King's College, Cambridge (patches at upper left quite pronounced). Comparison of those impressions categorised as second state and seen alongside the BM 'first state' (in which a few white dots can be seen at upper left) show a variation in the intensity and spread of the white dots/patches and would seem to point to Edmunds’ suggestion of “‘states’ of gradual wear”.
Satirical print. A scene of seven male musicians, all wearing wigs, playing together as an ensemble. Publishing details and title etched on the plate in the margin at lower left and centre: 'Publish'd According to Act of Parliament'; 'A Concert'. Annotations in graphite in the lower margin relate to the names of the figures represented, from left to right: 'HELLENDALE; NEWELLSEN.R; RENNISH; WEST; WYNNE; NEWELLJUN.R; WOOD'. Further annotations in graphite to the title: '[A Concert] at Cambridge' and at lower right: 'Bretherston', which is an erroneous reference to printmaker James Bretherton (c.1730-1806), to whom this print was previously attributed. On the verso in graphite, two different (curatorial) hands: 'Given by E.J. Dent, M.A. / King's College, 4 July 1911'; 'B.M. Satires 4479 / [1770]'. The attributions to Hume and Orde would seem to be traceable to the notes of Edward Hawkins (1780-1867), Keeper of Antiquities at the British Museum, whose collection of satirical prints was bought by the museum in 1868. Hawkins’ notes are referenced by F.G. Stephens in his catalogues of the satirical prints at the British Museum.
The inscriptions of the names and identities of the musicians on this impression in relation to that in the Rowe Music Library (King's College, Cambridge) were discussed by Christopher Hogwood (Hogwood, 1983): Pieter Hellendaal, a Dutch violinist who lived in Cambridge from 1762 until his death in 1799; John Frederick Ranish, teacher of the flute and oboe in Cambridge and a flautist at Covent Garden; John Wynne, player of the double bass and owner of a music shop near the Senate House in Cambridge; Georg Noëlli, a Portuguese Jew, the player of the dulcimer-like instrument in the right foreground known as the pantaleon, an instrument over 9ft long with 186 strings which was played with two batons or sticks. Alternative names found on the Rowe print identify the second violinist as 'Keymur', whom Hogwood (1983) identifies as John Keymer, a Lay Clerk at King's College and the cellist (wearing spectacles) as 'Alexis', whom Hogwood identifies as Alexis Magito, an Italian composer and cellist.
Earlier research carried out in 1977 in relation to the exhibition, _Gainsborough, English Music and the Fitzwilliam', suggests that the image shows a concert held in Christ's College on 8 June 1767 and that the singer, 'Wood', is probably David Wood, who became organist at Ely in 1768.