# Portrait of Christoph Willibald Gluck

- By: Jean-Antoine Houdon (French, 1741–1828)
- Date: c. 1775
- Medium: terracotta
- Classification: Sculpture
- Dimensions: Overall: 49.5 x 40 x 28.5 cm (19 1/2 x 15 3/4 x 11 1/4 in.); with base: 64 x 39.3 x 28.1 cm (25 3/16 x 15 1/2 x 11 1/16 in.)
- Culture: France
- Credit line: Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
- Museum: [Cleveland Museum of Art](https://clevelandart.org/art/1988.59)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1988.59/1988.59_web.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

A well-known composer of the 1700s, Gluck reformed opera by bringing unprecedented simplicity and sincerity to his music and staging, qualities shared by Houdon’s bust. This portrait, by depicting Gluck’s pockmarked face, was perceived as a natural and truthful representation. Yet, he would never have appeared publicly with unkempt hair and an open collar, which constituted the standard for representing an artist.