Portrait of Christoph Willibald Gluck
c. 1775
- Medium
- terracotta
- Dimensions
- 49.5 × 40 × 28.5 cm
- Status
- In Museum Collection
- Collect24 Art ID
- C24-196860
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.
Provenance
Fund, 1988.59
Registry history
- c. 1775 — Recorded in the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art — sculpture
Registered on Collect24
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