Mention of Johann Christian Bach reminds me that we should be celebrating the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s visit to London (maybe others already are).   He arrived on 23 April 1764 with his father, mother, and older sister, Maria Anna.   They took lodgings over a barber’s shop in Cecil Court.   He was already known across Europe as a prodigy, had proposed marriage to the young Marie Antoinette, met Goethe in Frankfurt, and been introduced to Madame de Pompadour in Versailles.   I like to think that Reynolds might have passed him in Frith Street (or Filth Street as it was then called).