A famous portrait of Bach. Authentic?

[Enrique]

Can somebody give some data about this picture?



For instance, is it authentic? Is the painter known?

[Peter]

From what I recall there is or was some doubt over the authenticity of this famous image. The same is true of three Beethoven related portraits - the ones of his parents and the one of him as a 12 year old child.

[Enrique]

Some googling, after posting, gave this:

The portrait [that in post #1] has been painted over, cleaned, and "restored," so that we do not know exactly what its original appearance really was, but it is the only one whose authenticity cannot be questioned.

Complete article: http://www.bachcentral.com/BachCentral/pictsinfo.html

Unfortunately, the page is not dated, nor the authorship known.

[Preston]

Not trying to change the topic too much though wanted to mention this.The portrait below is considered "highly dubious". Any thoughts?



If the picture above of Bach wasn't "dubious" then I would have to say Bach was quite the "pretty boy" when he was young, qlol.