“Fam'd Handel Breathing, tho' Transformed to Stone”: The Composer as Monument

Abstract

Abstract L. F. Roubiliac carved two full-length statues of Handel, in 1738 and 1762. Although designed for quite different settings—a public pleasure garden and Westminster Abbey—the two sculptures have notable congruencies: both were sited in spaces critical for national self-definition, and both reflected aspects of the composer's public persona. This article explores the delineation of Handel's image in these statues and reproductions of them, and explicates their role in a broader attempt to define the nation through its heroes. Handel's possible involvement in fostering his status as a “British worthy” is suggested both through circumstances of the effigies' production and through his onstage performance, particularly in Alexander's Feast.