Portrait of George Onslow by Louis Léopold Boilly

Discover the famous composer.

Presentation of the work

Attributed to Louis Léopold Boilly (1761–1845), Portrait of Georges Onslow, c. 1806–1814. Oil on canvas, 26 x 20.5 cm. Château d’Aulteribe (Sermentizon)
© Philippe Berthé / Centre des Monuments Nationaux

George Onslow (1784–1853) was a composer who enjoyed great renown during his lifetime, devoting himself primarily to chamber music for strings. Born into an old English aristocratic family, several members of which played an important role in British political life, his father, Edward, moved to Clermont-Ferrand in 1781 following a scandal revealing his homosexuality. Having moved to Auvergne, the Onslows led a peaceful life until the Revolution. Edward was imprisoned in 1793 on account of his nationality, despite his close ties with Couthon, with whom he shared a Masonic brotherhood. He went into exile in 1797, accompanied by his eldest son, George.

It was for this reason that George studied the piano with several teachers in London between 1798 and 1806 and decided to become a composer at the age of 22. He quickly became a key figure in the musical life of the first half of^{the 19th} century: the greatest performers included his works in their repertoires, and his name appeared alongside those of Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven. He was the only composer in France to devote himself to chamber music and became a member of the philharmonic societies of London, Rome, Berlin and Copenhagen. His career reached its peak in 1842 when he succeeded Cherubini at the Académie des Beaux-Arts.

George Onslow married Charlotte-Françoise-Delphine de Fontanges (1790–1879) in July 1808. The couple had three children: Louis-Arthur, Georgine and Henriette. His daughter Henriette Onslow (1814–1883) married Joseph de Pierre (1808–1885), owner of the Château d’Aulteribe. It is for this reason that the château still houses some of the furniture and objects that belonged to George Onslow, including his Pleyel piano.

This portrait has been attributed by the painter’s specialists, Étienne Bréton and Pascal Zuber, to Louis Léopold Boilly, a renowned portraitist of the late^18th and early^19th centuries. Nine other family portraits by the same painter, though in smaller formats, are also kept at the château. The execution of the Aulteribe painting is of very fine quality, and the composer appears to be no more than thirty years old.

There are other portraits of the musician in his youth, dating from the 1830s, in which he appears older than in the Aulteribe painting. These include an engraving by Henri Grévedon and another by Pierre-Roch Vigneron, both of which are kept at the château.