The iconography of an émigré musician: Henri-Pierre Danloux's 1795 portrait of Jan Ladislav Dussek

Abstract

The French Revolution brought a wave of musicians and artists to London in the 1790s, providing a city already replete with local and international talent with even more creativity. Among those with connections to the 'ancien régime' who fled the unrest and dangers of France were the French painter Henri-Pierre Danloux (1753–1809), and the Bohemian composer-pianist Jan Ladislav Dussek (1760–1812). Danloux was to paint a fine portrait of Dussek in early 1795 (illus.1), by which time both men had established themselves, with varying degrees of success, in the bustling but cut-throat creative world of London. The painting was acquired by the Royal College of Music in 1999, after considerable fund-raising efforts, with the assistance of the Heritage Lottery Fund, the National Art Collections Fund, the Idlewild Trust, and a number of other trusts and private individuals.