Draft:Portraits of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Detail of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart from the family portrait by Johann Nepomuk della Croce

The Portraits of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart are various paintings in which the classical composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is portrayed. The posthumous 1819 painting by Barbara Krafft is the best known of all, but several others also exist, by and after Mozart's own lifetime. According to Robert Bory, sixty-two portraits of Mozart and pictorial representations of all kinds exist, but they vary widely in the pictorial representation of the physical characteristics of the composer, showing little fidelity to the model.

Several musicologists and Mozart experts, such as Arthur Hutchings, Arthur Schurig and Alfred Einstein have examined the portraits of the composer, expressing various degrees of dissapointment on the quality of the artworks, manifesting an opposition between the enormous amount of artworks that represent the genius and the scarce iconographic value of them.

Schurig stated in 1923 the following: "Mozart has been the famous composer of whom most fictitious portraits have been made, pictorial material that has contributed, not a little, to confuse later generations about his appearance." For his part, Alfred Einstein expressed his opinion about these portraits in the following statement: "No earthly remains of Mozart survived save a few wretched portraits, no two of which are alike."

These statements led the musicologists and art historians to undertake a rigorous analysis of all existing paintings, sketches, drawings, cameos and engravings of the composer. The conclusion of this was that only eight works of art, all of them of unequal interest, were produced by authors who knew Mozart directly, or by sketches taken from drawings made from life. From this selection, Mozart's "biographical paintings" have been published with more care, generally following the criteria that emerged from this analysis.

Detail of the unfinished Lange portrait. Considered by Constanze to be the best of all her husband's portraits.

Thus, it seems appropriate to point out a list of authors, contemporaries of the composer, who signed loose portraits of Mozart: Pompeo Girolamo Battoni, François Joseph Bosio, Breitkopf, Joseph Duplessis, Nicolò Grassi, Jean-Baptiste Greuze,Giambettino Cignaroli, Louis Carrogis Carmontelle, Johann Nepomuk della Croce, Dominicus van der Smissen, Johann Eusebius Alphen, Martin Knoller, Dora Stock, and Pietro Antonio Lorenzoni. Nevertheless, the study of these portraits can be interesting since, although they are not faithful to the physical features of the composer, they provide important iconographic data, either on musical instruments, or on other personalities that appear in them.

Beyond the small number of authentificated portraits, we find a broad number of dubious and outright inauthentic paintings that supposedly represent Mozart. We find three types in the latter category; first are the portraits (most often young male musicians) of other people, which are claimed later on to be Mozart. Second are the fabricated forgeries of various kinds (created to either earn money or gain notoriety) which then some claim to represent Mozart. And the third category is formed by fantastical paintings, produced by the artist's pure imagination with no basis in Mozart's actual extant iconography. These are inspired by common myths and legends about Mozart, crossing the line from art to kitsch

Authentic portraits of Mozart

• Anonymous Salzburg portrait is considered to be the earliest authentic portrait of Mozart. It was commissioned by Leopold Mozart himself. It shows a six-year old Mozart in court costumes given to him in 1762 as a gift from Empress Maria Theresa, coming from the wardrobe of Archduke Maximilian, as documented in Leopold's letter of October 19, 1762. It is attributed to minor Austrian painter Pietro Antonio Lorenzoni. The technique used is oil on canvas, being currently owned by the Mozarteum in Salzburg (inherited directly from the Mozart family) and displayed at Mozart's birthplace.

• Louis Carrogis Carmontelle's Mozart family portrait shows the seven-year old prodigy at the harpsichord, with his father Leopold behind playing the violin and Wolfgang's sister Maria Anna Mozart is in front of him, holding the page of a score. It was painted by French artist Louis Carrogis Carmontelle during the stay of the Mozart family in Paris between 1763-64, part of the grand family tour through most of Western Europe. It was commissioned by Baron Melchior von Grimm, patron of the Mozarts at the time. The subsequent drawing and print made from it are documented in a letter from Leopold Mozart to Lorenz Hagenauer on 1 April 1764. A large number of copies of the engraving were made, which Leopold used for advertising and gift purposes, and some of which he also sold.
  
  Mozart's sister was referring to the engraving when she wrote to Breitkopf & Sohn on November 24, 1799: "I am also sending you a copperplate engraving that was engraved when we were in Paris. From this you can see that my brother was a very pretty child. It was only after the smallpox [1767] that he became so disfigured: and even more so when he returned from Italy [1771], he acquired the Italian yellow color that made him completely unrecognizable. He was a small but well-proportioned child." The technique used is watercolour, with subsequent copies being made of griffel, sanguine, gouache paint and engraving. The original is currently owned by and exhibited at the Musée Condé in the Château de Chantilly

• Anonymous Verona portrait showcases a thirteen-year old Mozart looking at the viewer while playing the dubious molto allegro in G major (K.72a), in a harpsichord made by Giovanni Celestius in Venice (1583). It was painted in Verona between January 5-6 of 1770, commissioned by Venetian tax collector Pietro Lugiati, who also housed Mozart and his father during their stay in the city. Leopold Mozart reports the origins of this picture in his letter of January 7, 1770 The autorship is disputed between Saverio Dalla Rosa and Giambettino Cignaroli. Arthur Schurig considered it to be the best and most faithful portrait of Mozart as a young man. The technique employed is oil on canvas. It was previously owned by the descendants of pianist Alfred Cortot, but it was sold to an anonymous art collector in 2019 at a Christie's auction house in Paris. Valued at around one million euros, the price reached over four million, making it not only the most valuable portrait of Mozart, but any artifact related to the composer.

• Anonymous Bologna portrait

• Johann Nepomuk della Croce's family portrait

• Joseph Lange's portrait

• Doris Stock's portrait

Dubious portraits of Mozart

• Jean-Baptiste Greuze's portrait supposedly shows the upper-half of a six-year old Mozart as painted by French artist Jean-Baptiste Greuze, the only major painter in this list. Like the Carmontelle's watercolour, it was painted during the stay of the Mozart family in Paris between 1763-64. The picture is titled simply as "Portrait of a boy", and the signature of the author was unknown when it was catalogued in 1933. However, the identification of the sitter as Mozart has never been fully confirmed, and therefore should be treated with scepticism. We find no mention of the painting in the correspondence of the Mozart family, nor the biographers of Mozart or Greuze mention it.
  
  Arthur Schurig described the portrait as a forgery in 1920, before the signature and other details were discovered. Composer and neurobiologist Martin Braun realised an extensive study of the portrait, analyzing the facial features and compared them with the known authentic portraits of Mozart. He came to the conclusion that not only the painting was authentic, but that the model was effectively Mozart himself. This claim is supported by Mozart lecturer Daniel N. Leeson. The technique used is oil on canvas. It is currently owned by Yale University and exhibited at Yale University Art Gallery

• Anonymous's miniature dual portrait supposedly represents a young Mozart and his sister Maria Anna Mozart (Nannerl). There are multiple and conflicting dates, ranging from 1763 to 1767, atributted to the Austrian court miniaturist Johann Eusebius Alphen (1741–1772). Alphen met the Mozart family on several occasions in those years in Brussels, Paris and Vienna. Arthur Schurig included the miniature in his list of inauthentic Mozart portraits, but without bringing any concrete evidence as of why. On the other hand, Canadian musicologist and Mozart expert Cliff Eisen came to the conclusion that the miniature is authentic. The technique employed is watercolour and opaque or poster paint on ivory, being currently owned by the Mozarteum in Salzburg.

• Anonymous 1768 portrait supposedly shows a twelve-year old Mozart holding a score while looking at the viewer. It was apparently painted in 1768 in Vienna, although it is also dated in 1763 by Cliff Eisen Also being attributed either to Johann Eusebius Alphen or Pietro Antonio Lorenzoni. According to Mozart expert Manfred Schmid, the painting was in posession of the Hagenauer family (whose members were very close to the Mozart family and frequently appear in their correspondence), Their Mozart collection was sold circa 1920 in Cologne. However, lack of provenance with this piece has kept researchers divided as to its authentication. Mozart musicologist Rudolph Angermüller has expressed postive views on the portrait. It is currently owned and displayed at the Mozarteum in Salzburg.

• Anonymous Florence portrait apparently shows a fourteen-year old Mozart at the harpsichord, surrounded by the Gavard des Pivets family and Thomas Linley playing the violin. Giuseppe Maria Gavard des Pivets was the finance administrator of the court of Grand Duke of Tuscany Leopoldo I (later Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II). It was supposedly painted in Florence, where Leopold and Wolfgang encountered violinist Pietro Nardini, whom they had met at the start of their grand tour of Europe. Wolfgang also met Thomas Linley, an English violin prodigy and a pupil of Nardini's. The two formed a close friendship, making music and playing together "not as boys but as men", as Leopold remarked. However, we find no mention of a painting being made for the occassion, or any reference to a pictorial representation in the correspondence of the Mozart family, and thus the portrait is considered dubious. The technique used is oil on canvas. It was previously owned by the descendants of pianist Alfred Cortot, being currently owned by a private collector after it was sold in an auction in 2019.

• Johann Georg Edinger's portrait

Inauthentic portraits of Mozart

• Dominicus van der Smissen's portrait apparently shows an eleven-year old Mozart. It was allegedly painted in Holland in the spring of 1766 by German artist Dominicus van der Smissen. On the back of the portrait there is the handwritten note: "Mozart as a youth, painted by van Smissen." This is impossible because Smissen died on January 6, 1760 in Altona, which was apparently unknown to the person who put the inscription on the front. It also has been attributed to a non-existant J. Vander Smissen, or even Domenicus son Jakob van Smissen (1735–1813) the ridiculous idea of ​​explaining the signature as "Devotus van Smissen" was born, because Smissen was supposed to have been a devout Mennonite. The portrait itself is lacking in any fidelity to the model, specially in the face features and eye colour. In the face of the evidence, the painting is probably a forgery created to capitalize on the name of the composer. The technique used is oil on canvas, currently located in the Mozarteum in Salzburg.

• Anonymous 1767 portrait supposedly shows a nine-year old mozart at the keyboard and wearing a Chinese coat. Looking at the viewer while laying score pages in his lap. It was apparently painted in 1767, being attributed either to Jean-Baptiste Perronneau or Joseph Duplessis. However, there is no evidence that connects the boy in the picture with Mozart. We find no reference to the painting in the correspondence of the Mozart family, nor any expert adresses the portrait, giving way to the idea that the model was falsely atributed to be Mozart much later on. The technique used is oil on canvas, being currently owned by the Louvre Museum and exhibited at Musée de la Musique.

• Delahaye's portrait
• Franz Thaddäus Helbling's portrait
• Burchard Dubeck's portrait

Gallery

• 
  Salzburg portrait (1763)
• 
  Greuze's dubious portrait (1763)
• 
  Carmontelle's watercolour (1763)
• 
  Anonymous dubious miniature portrait of Wolfgang and Maria Anna (c. 1763-67)
• 
  Smissen's inauthentic portrait (1766)
• 
  Anonymous's inauthentic portrait (1767)
• 
  Anonymous dubious portrait (c.1768)
• 
  Anonymous Verona portrait (1770)
• 
  Anonymous and dubious Florence portrait with Thomas Linley and the Gavard des Pivets family (1770)
• 
  Delahaye's inauthentic portrait (1772)
• 
  Knoller's dubious miniature (1773)
• 
  Anonymous dubious portrait (1775)
• 
  Bologna portrait (1777)
• 
  Salzburg Family Portrait (1780)
• 
  della Croce's dubious portrait (1780)
• 
  Lange's unfinished portrait (1782-83)
• 
  Hickel's portrait (1783)
• 
  Vogel's dubious portrait (1783, monochrome)
• 
  Grassi's dubious portrait (1785)
• 
  Helbling's inauthentic portrait (1787)
• 
  Stock's silverpoint portrait (1789)
• 
  Edinger's dubious portrait (1790)
• 
  Dubeck's inauthentic portrait (1803)
• 
  Krafft's posthumous portrait (1819)
• 
  Kaulbach's inauthentic portrait (1873)

Bibliography

• Bory, Robert. La vie et l'oeuvre de Wolfgang-Amadeus Mozart par l'image (in French). Suiza: Horizons de France, 1948.
• Einstein, Alfred. Mozart, His Character, His Work. Oxford University Press, 1962
• Hutchings, Arthur. Mozart: The Man, the Musician. United Kingdom: Thames and Hudson, 1976.
• Grosspietsch, Christoph. Mozart-Bilder, Bilder Mozarts: ein Porträt zwischen Wunsch und Wirklichkeit (in German). Austria: Verlag Anton Pustet, 2013.

References

This page will be placed in the following categories if it is moved to the article namespace.

Categories:

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Portraits of men
• Paintings of men
• Lists of paintings