REYNOLDS AND HAYDN’S PORTRAIT.
Reading edition
When Haydn, the eminent composer, was in England, one of the princes commissioned Reynolds to paint his portrait. Haydn sat twice, but he soon grew tired, and Reynolds finding he could make nothing out of his “stupid countenance,” communicated the circumstance to his royal highness, who contrived the following stratagem to rouse him. He sent to the painter’s house a beautiful German girl, in the service of the queen. Haydn took his seat, for the third time, and as soon as the conversation began to flag, a curtain rose, and the fair German addressed him in his native language with a most elegant compliment. Haydn, delighted, overwhelmed the enchantress with questions; and Reynolds, rapidly transferring to the canvass his features thus lit up, produced an admirable likeness.