[MUSIC] Gainsborough's portrait of Karl Friedrich Abel here in the Huntington Library and Art Gallery in San Marino, California is an outstanding example in the history of art of a portrait of a musician as a man of sensibility. A German composer and musician who trained under Johann Sebastian Bach, Karl Frederich Able, one of the last great virtuosi of the viola de gamba is seen here at his desk poised over a musical score. Abel is represented as the consummate musician, active in his profession, who although seated appears as a dynamic 18th century gentleman. Beautifully dressed in a fine fabric of subtle brown and gold, he is correcting or writing a musical score. One which he might perform on his viola di gamba which rests on his knee. Dressed in costume that he might have worn while in concert, he's the epitome of respectability and success, a man at the peak of his powers. And as Christine Riding has pointed out, in this remarkable picture Gainsborough presents a grand figure from the world of music through an image that is harmonious and compositionally rhythmic, evocative of musical composition itself. Gainsborough, in line with Shaftesbury's views on sensibility, and on the allowance of excessive emotion when it came to music. Loved music, and himself had an affinity for the viola. As well as organizing chamber concerts and designing the sets at which Abel and his friend Christian Bach performed in Bath, he himself performed the viola with Abel, who was his intimate friend. Whom Gainsborough said was, quote, the man I loved from the moment I heard him touch the string. Gainsborough's friend, Henry Dudley Bate noted, and I quote, "His performance at the viola de gamba was in some movements equal to the touch of Able. Stressing that the painter always plays to the feelings. Gainsborough who sometimes wished that he were free of the labors that his portraits required of him, was famously known to remark, I'm sick of portraits and wish very much to take viol da gamba and walk off to some sweet village where I can paint landscapes and enjoy the fag end of life in quietness and ease. Vibration was one of the paradigms of the cultural sensibility, and hearing was represented by the 18th century French painter, Philippe Messier, in his picture The Sense of Hearing, by women playing musical instruments. Hume emphasized the harmonic possibilities of the nervous system in his treaties of human nature, comparing the affections generated among human creatures to the sounds transmitted by musical instruments. Listening to music was part of the culture of sensibility. And the definers of sensibility while not encouraging in moderate or excessive emotion, made an exception for enthusiasm for the visual and performing arts allowing quote "A plausible enthusiasm, a reasonable ecstasy in transport in relation to architecture, paintings and music". Here Gainsborough represents his admired and loved friend through the codes of the gendered sensibility. Abel is powerful, professional and active. Sitting astride his chair with his legs apart, he leans forward in his chair. His bow resting at a steep angle on his thigh, his right hand poised over the sheet of music. The momentary pause allows Gainsborough to emphasize a moment of concentration, which he conveys through the representation of his subtle facial expressions. This image is one of a man of sensibility, the whole styling of which would have been unthinkable for a woman of his class to perform, or for Gainsborough to represent in the way that he has here. Abel asserts masculine sensibility and authority in a subtle way, as he looks out of the picture plane, addressing the viewer with his gaze. It almost meets our own. He's pomeranian, the subject of other works by Gainsborough, rests by his feet. She has almost as much pride of place in the composition as his famed musical instrument. Presenting an image of companionship, harmony, and mutual support. Here we see a great musician at ease with his dog. Contemporary critics commented upon the many outstanding features of the painting with one noting quote, "It is difficult to determine whether the spirit of the figure, the clearly marked meaning of the face, or the correctness of the dog, and the richness of the chair cover deserve the highest commendations". Like the portrait of an officer of the Fourth Regiment of Foot in Melbourne, Gainsborough is using the image of the musician at work with his dog as his companion as a means of illustrating the sensibility that included in its gamut, cohabitation with domestic animals and their treatment. Let us now consider the pendant portraits of Edward, second Viscount Legionnaire, and Penelope Viscountess Legionnaire, both painted in 1771. Hanging here adjacent to Fredric Abel. These magnificent paintings are both outstanding examples of 18th century portraiture and also fine examples of the gender culture of sensibility. [MUSIC]
