18th Portrait Of Johann Quantz (1697-1773), Attributed To Edward Alcock (Fl.1744-1788)

Portrait of Johann Quantz (1697-1773), flautist and composer, wearing a blue velvet coat, waistcoat and breeches, standing in a garden landscape with his flute and music on a bench beside him, c.1750.

Johann Joachim Quantz was a flute player and maker and composer at royal courts, being one of the most famous musicians of his day. He was flute teacher to Frederick the Great and composed hundreds of flute sonatas and concertos, including his 'On Playing the Flute', a treatise on flute performance which became a valuable reference for flute playing in the 18th century.

He was born in the village of Oberscheden, in the Electorate of Hanover in Germany. His father was a blacksmith and at the age of 11, after being orphaned, he began an appreticeship in 1708 with his uncle, Justus Quantz, a town musician in Merseburg. At the completion of his apprenticeship Quantz was able to play most of the principle string instruments and the oboe and trumpet.

In 1716 Quantz accepted an invitation to join the town band in Dresden, the capital of Saxony and one of the most important artistic centres in Europe. In 1718 he became oboist to the court of August II, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, but shortly after decided to pursue the flute, studying under the famous French flute player Pierre-Gabriel Buffardin from the Royal Orchestra.

He embarked on a Grand Tour of Europe between 1724 and 1727, with the financial support of the Dresden court, studying with Francesco Gasparini in Rome, meeting Alessandro Scarlatti in Naples, befriending flutist Michel Blavet in Paris and Handel in London.

After a visit to the Prussian court in 1728, the Crown Prince, Frederick of Prussia who had been deeply impressed by Quantz, decided to study the flute and Quantz became his teacher for several visits a year. When Frederick became King in 1740, Quantz accepted a position as flute teacher, maker and composer at the court of Berlin, and he remained in service with Frederick until his death in 1773.

English artist Edward Alcock (fl.1745-1788) was a painter of portraits and miniatures who travelled and worked in several towns around England. He is recorded as living in Liverpool in 1745 and in Bath by 1757, moving on to Birmingham in 1759. In Birmingham his patrons included Mr Hylton, Captain Wright and William Shenstone,the poet and landscape gardener painted c.1760, which can be found in the National Portrait Gallery, London. By 1769 he was being described as 'Mr Alcock of Bristol' and by 1778 he was living in London and exhibiting at the Royal Academy and Free Society of Artists.