Doctor Joseph Joachim

Doctor Joseph Joachim (1831-1907) was a Hungarian violinist, conductor, composer, and teacher who made an international career, based in Hanover and Berlin. A close collaborator of Johannes Brahms, he is widely regarded as one of the most significant violinists of the 19th century.

Joachim studied violin early, beginning in Buda at age five, then in Vienna and Leipzig. He made his debut in London in 1844, playing Beethoven's Violin Concerto with Mendelssohn conducting. He returned to London many times throughout life.

From 1852, Joachim served at the court of Hanover, playing principal violin in the opera and conducting concerts, with months of free time in summer for concert tours.

James Archer was a Scottish painter of portraits, genre works landscapes and historical scenes. Archer specialised in portraiture at the start of his career, particularly portraits of people in historic costume - he was the first Victorian painter to do children's portraits in period costume. In 1849 he exhibited his first historical picture The Last Supper at the Royal Scottish Academy. His work after that mostly consisted of scenes taken from literature or legends, such as Shakespeare and Arthurian subjects, including La Mort d'Arthur and Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere.

This painting has been specially conserved and cleaned for this exhibition, and has not been publicly displayed for nearly 30 years.

No. 894

Presented, 1910

Guildhall Art Gallery, City of London