The English composer and organist Thomas Attwood (1765–1838) is perhaps most famous for being a pupil of Mozart, who remarked that he was ‘a young man for whom I have a sincere affection and esteem… and I predict that he will prove a sound musician.’ Following his studies, Attwood returned to England where he was appointed teacher to the Duchess of York (1791) and the Princess of Wales (1795). In 1796, he was made organist of St Paul’s Cathedral, in which capacity he played at, and composed music for, the funeral of Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson in 1805; he was also a founding member of the Philharmonic Society (1813). The portrait was presented to the Royal College of Music in 1888 by Margaret Smart, the daughter of the conductor Sir George Thomas Smart (1776–1867): it is possible that he had acquired the painting directly from Attwood.