✖

The Gallery holds the most extensive collection of portraits in the world. Search over 215,000 works, 150,000 of which are illustrated from the 16th Century to the present day.

Only Connect - Sir Michael Tippett <> Ludwig van Beethoven

How are these sitters connected?

Sir Michael Kemp Tippett, by Martin Rose, 1989 - NPG - © National Portrait Gallery, London

Sir Michael Kemp Tippett
by Martin Rose
1989
NPG 6043

Ludwig van Beethoven, by Lazarus Gottlieb Sichling, after Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, (1823) - NPG - © National Portrait Gallery, London

Ludwig van Beethoven
by Lazarus Gottlieb Sichling, after Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller
(1823)
NPG D13759

The connection
Composer Michael Tippett modelled his quartets on those of Beethoven. Tippett’s Fourth Quartet  is a reflection of T. S. Eliot’s set of poems, the ‘Four Quartets’.

Find out more about Tippett connections with co-curator Peter Sheppard Skaerved

Explore other Tippett connections

Return to panoramic view

Timelapse Video