The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 25, 2024

Portrait of Christoph Willibald Gluck

Portrait of Christoph Willibald Gluck

c. 1775
(French, 1741–1828)
France, 18th century
terracotta
Overall: 49.5 x 40 x 28.5 cm (19 1/2 x 15 3/4 x 11 1/4 in.); with base: 64 x 39.3 x 28.1 cm (25 3/16 x 15 1/2 x 11 1/16 in.)
Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1988.59
Location: not on view

Description

A well-known composer of the 1700s, Gluck reformed opera by bringing unprecedented simplicity and sincerity to his music and staging, qualities shared by Houdon’s bust. This portrait, by depicting Gluck’s pockmarked face, was perceived as a natural and truthful representation. Yet, he would never have appeared publicly with unkempt hair and an open collar, which constituted the standard for representing an artist.
  • Possibly René Huyghe, 1906-1997 (Paris, France)
    Michael Hall Fine Arts, Inc. (New York, New York), sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1988.
  • "The Year in Review for 1988." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 76, no. 2 (1989): 30-75. p. 68, no. 20, repr. p. 30 25160061
  • Rococo, Revolution, Restoration. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 11-September 24, 1989).
    The Year in Review for 1988. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 1-May 14, 1989).
  • {{cite web|title=Portrait of Christoph Willibald Gluck|url=false|author=Jean-Antoine Houdon|year=c. 1775|access-date=25 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1988.59