Portrait Summary
Subject: Charles Burney, 7 April 1726 – 12 April 1814
- Charles Burney gained fame in the Eighteenth century as a music historian and people who enjoy reading about the luminous of the London scene in the mid-late 1700s, will come across his name frequently. He, and my personal favourite Eighteenth century character James Boswell, were close friends, and Boswell name checks him in his biography The Life of Samuel Johnson (many anecdotes from Johnson’s early life were supplied by Burney who had met Johnson in 1755). Burney was an organist, harpsichordist and composer in early life and took low-paying organist roles to pay for his family. In his later 30s his fortunes began to improve. He began socialising with the most famous in London, including Samuel Johnson, actor David Garrick, painter Joshua Reynolds (the man who painted the original of the sketch I made for this post) and many others. Why was he able to make friends with these elites? Boswell and others tell us Burney was a very good conversationalist, sophisticated, yet easy going, and able to debate with Samuel Johnson (something many/most were not at all up to). He was elected as a member Reynolds and Johnson’s literary dining club in 1784, at the age of 58. One more thing to Burney’s credit…he was the father of the admirable and redoubtable novelist Fanny Burney (1752 – 1840), later to marry and become Madame D’Arblay.
- His major works of music history are The Present State of Music in France and Italy (1771) published after extensive travels in Italy; The Present State of Music in Germany, the Netherlands and United Provinces (1773) published after a second research visit to the Continent; History of Music (1776 – vol 1, 1782 – vol 2, 1789 – vols 3 & 4). This final project was Burney’s master work.
- Painting: This sketch is a copy of a very well-known portrait showing him at the age of 55, and painted in 1781 by the great Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792). Reynolds was Britain’s greatest portrait painter of the Eighteenth century.
- See the original painting at the National Portrait Gallery internet page.
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