This is an oil sketch for Hudson’s famous full length portrait of 1756, painted for Handel’s librettist, Charles Jennens and now in the National Portrait Gallery. Though the sketch represents a near definitive state of the composition there were subsequent changes: the grand staircase in the background to the right was replaced by a balcony open to the sky; the pile of books under the table (suggesting a profusion of previous compositions) was covered by the curtain; a cane was put in the composers right hand (not as inappropriate as you might think, as conductors beat time with their canes at this date); the score open on the table became the Messiah, the most famous work upon which Jennens and Handel collaborated.