This remarkable photograph is not a computer generated
composite; the original of the Weydenhammer Portrait Fragment, all that remains of the
portrait of Johann Sebastian Bach that belonged to his pupil Johann Christian Kittel, is
resting gently on the surface of the original of the 1748 Elias Gottlob Haussmann Portrait
of Johann Sebastian Bach.
The Face Of Bach is a website devoted to the
portraits of Johann Sebastian Bach, and to the fair and accurate analysis of the various
images that purport to be accurate depictions of the facial features of Johann Sebastian
Bach.
As I continue to develop this site, I hope to offer
thorough evaluations of the various Bach portraits and to provide information on the
source materials that are the foundation for any discussion of the portraits of Johann
Sebastian Bach.
When I opened this website, on July 31, 2000, the 250th
anniversary of the interment of the mortal remains of Johann Sebastian Bach in the
Johanneskirchof on what were then the outskirts of the City of Leipzig, I announced to the
world the existence of a previously unknown portrait of Johann Sebastian Bach. After 191
years, the long lost portrait of Bach that had belonged to his
devoted pupil Johann Christian Kittel had finally turned up!
Because of the interest that the announcement engendered, I
quickly built a series of pages about the Bach Portraits. Because so much refinement and
revision of those pages is needed, all but two of them have been removed from the website
for that purpose.
However, in place of those pages, I am pleased to present a
series of pages containing the text of the presentation that I made on March 21, 2001, at Queens College of the City University of New York, together
with the accompanying illustrations.
I have retained two pages from the previous incarnation of The
Face Of Bach.
One such page is devoted to the Volbach portrait, the
portrait of Bach in the last months of his life. I am about to embark on a thorough
evaluation of this extraordinary image, which I have long been convinced is an authentic
portrait from life, using a recently made 8x10 transparency as the basis for my analysis.
In the meantime, please click on or on the page title to read The
Inscrutable Volbach Portrait, which contains the preliminary results of my
analysis of this powerful painting.
The other such page, which I admit badly needs
"tweaking", is devoted to a discussion of the first portrait print of
Johann Sebastian Bach. This print was engraved by S. G. Kütner, a schoolmate of one of
JSB's grandsons. Please click on or on the page title to read The S. G.
Kütner Engraving of 1774.
Since I first updated The Face Of Bach, on April
2, 2001, I have been compelled, serendipitously and fortuitously, to deal with The Group
Portrait that is alleged to depict Johann Sebastian Bach and three of his sons and that
some scholars attribute to Balthasar Denner. To read my analysis of this fascinating image
and consider my conclusions about it who it really depicts, please click on or on the page's title, The Portrait That Does NOT
Depict J. S. Bach With Three of his Sons. Those of you who have read this
discussion since it was first posted may now want to look at the bottom of the second page again, because, since I posted these pages
initially, I have added two Addenda that contain exciting new information about the
provenance of the Group Portrait, including a photograph of one of the two exemplars of
the portrait that was taken when it was exhibited in 1904!
The pressures of my law practice and the pressing need to
attend to important family matters notwithstanding, I at last am able to provide an
updated version of the page on the Meiningen Pastel that was "on line" at the
original version of The Face Of Bach. Please click on or on the page's title to read The Meiningen Pastel - Bach Through The Eyes Of His Relatives.
If you are interested in receiving occasional notices about
updates to The Face Of Bach, please subscribe to the
e-mail list that I have established at YahooGroups.com; for further information, please
point your browser to:
TheFaceOfBach Mailing List at YahooGroups
Copyright, Teri Noel Towe, 2000, 2001, 2002
Unless otherwise credited, all images of the Weydenhammer Portrait: Copyright, The
Weydenhammer Descendants, 2000
All Rights Reserved
The Face Of Bach
Remains Profoundly Grateful to
The Rainbow Flag Civic Center
For Providing the Cyberspace for The Face Of Bach
For the First Eight Years of Its Existence.
Thank you, Nathan P. Johansen!
The Face Of Bach is a PPP Free Early Music
website.
The Face Of Bach has received the HIP Woolly Mammoth Stamp of Approval from The HIP-ocrisy Home Page.
or on the presentation title to read the
Queens College Lecture of March 21, 2001, which is entitled 
or on the page's title, 
