Half-length; seated at a piano or spinet, turned towards the right,
but his face looking behind him, over his shoulder to the left. He
is dressed in a red coat and has a small wig. On canvas, 2 ft. 1
in. high, by 1 ft. 8 in. wide. Signed on the left-hand side:--"_C.
Robineau 1780._"
Charles Frederick Abel was a pupil of Bach's, and at one time
belonged to the royal band at Dresden. He came to England about
1765, and was appointed master of Queen Charlotte's band. Although
he wrote music, he was more celebrated for his playing than his
compositions. Abel was a very passionate man, and much addicted to
the bottle,--peculiarities which the visitor would suspect him of,
from his flushed face and red nose. He died in 1787, after being
three days in a sort of drunken torpor.
Robineau was a portrait-painter who practised in Paris and London.