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A group surrounds a harpsichord playing instruments
Music in the Royal Collection

Many members of the royal family were talented musicians

THOMAS GAINSBOROUGH (1727-88)

Johann Christian Fischer (1733-1800)

Exhibited 1780

RCIN 407298

Johann Christian Fischer was a German composer and virtuoso oboe player. He played frequently at court and became a member of the Queen’s Band. Fanny Burney described his performing technique as 'the sweet-flowing, melting, celestial notes of Fischer's hautboy'. It is likely that the piano on which he leans in this painting is a pianoforte-harpsichord, patented by John Joseph Merlin in 1774.


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