Portrait W. A. Mozart

Abstract

An unkown youth-portrait of W.A. Mozart could help us to solve the problem of picture authentification. As it was the rule the portrait was done in two steps, first the head, ca. 1770 and some times later the body , ca. 1780, in clothes of the time, when the young boy already did his job as a genius in music all over Europe. Several similarities with his father Leopold Mozart are shown. Individually young W.A. Mozart owned an impressive forehead and sleeps, blue, bright, “burning” eyes, eyeball bulging thanks to morbus hyperthyreosis , the view with a strabismus divergens, a sharp energic nose, strained open nostrils, a humorous smile,  peg chin with a dimple. Except the age difference and the hair customs there is a clear identity to the authentic miniature of Joseph Grassi from 1783. But obviously the most popular picture by Barbara Krafft does not fulfill the criteria of an authentic portrait.

Pict. 1 Unkn., W.A. Mozart, youth portrait, ca. 10 y., Oil/ Canv., 28 x 26 cm

When one of the travelling artists around 1770 reached Salzburg, with some rolls of canvas, he met a father, Leopold Mozart, citizen of Augsburg (Bavaria), who would like to get a portrait of his son Wolfgang Amadeus. Since the canvas was already prepared (with a lot of fine cracks due to enrollment) the painter, as it was the rule, started his work with the head of the sitter. At a later point of time the body with the fashions of 1780 would follow. After 250 years different phases of painting are still seen by some stages  of browning. The procedure of painting was welcome to the financial status of the client, being just a servant at the archbishop palace, since paints were very expensive.

The picture appearing again in 2011 near the city of Salzburg in a small auction house impressed by some characteristics: In general it was the custom to picture a child as a kind of tiny grownup. Certainly there were some similarities with W. A. Mozart, especially his eyes and lips. The tense, precocious expression of the young boy resulted from his  travelling as a musical genius all over Europe. There definitely was no reason to show him as a little sweety.

The thesis will be argued, that the recently found portrait presents the young W.A. Mozart (1756 – 91) which appears nearly identical with the authentic pictures by Joseph Grassi (1758-1838) and differs from the posthumous portrait by Barbara Krafft (1764 – 1825). The following analysis does not intend to discuss a gigantic secondary literature. This would mean a book bigger than an article. We only would  like to identify W.A. Mozart in a painting of his time.

Many parts of his face resembled his father Leopold Mozart:

Pict. 2   K.A., Portrait Leopold Mozart, detail, ca. 1765

The W.A. Mozart youth picture shows him wearing a wig and his face covered by powder resulting in a lack of incarnate. The aquamarine-blue eyes under the impressive forehead and sleeps, large bows of his browes over a sharp nose he impressed the public of music. Even the eye rims came close to the authentic portraits of later times in his biography. There was also an eyeball bulging thanks to morbus hyperthyreosis epidemic in the countries around Salzburg for centuries.

Additionally the boy was characterized by a sharp energic nose, with strained open nostrils, a humorous smile on his lips and a  slightly  receding peg chin with a dimple. But most important were his bright, “burning” eyes.

Pict. 3 W.A. Mozart, youth portrait, detail, ca. 10 y.

The magnificent eyes  with a burning view have already been noticed by his first biographer F. Niemetschek, 1798. Also reported by Alexander von Kleist, when he together with his brother the dramatic poet Heinrich v. Kleist, visited 29. Aug.1791 the Nostitz-Theater at Prague, where Mozart dirigated his opera “Don Giovanni”.

Pict. 4 W.A. Mozart, youth portrait, with squint

The view of the boy was somewhat diverged (strabismus divergens). The squinting had been noticed by Ludwig Tieck, who met Mozart at Berlin during a rehearsal of the opera Entführung aus dem Serail . It was recently mentioned also by Eva Gesine Baur in her biography of Mozart.

A clear identity, except the age (27) and the hair (original), exists with the authentic miniature of Joseph Grassi (1758-1838) on an ivory miniature of Mozarts tobacco box. Mozart met the painter at Vienna 1783. This miniature was dedicated to Mozart from his friend Anton Grassi.

Pict. 5 Joseph Grassi, W.A. Mozart, Miniature on ivory, oval,  3 x 2,5 cm,  ca. 1783, ca. 27 y.

The wonder children and beloved friends W.A. Mozart and Thomas Linley (both * 1756) met each other at the house of Giuseppe Gavart, Florenz 1770. The violinist with some bulging eyes seems to be W.A. Mozart, the pianist Thomas Linley.

Only very few portraits of Mozart are known to be authentic (Jos. Lange, Salzburg, 1782; Dorothea Stock, Dresden 1789; Josef Grassi, Vienna 1770)

Another portrait found around 1740 at Verona by Joseph Sonnleitner (called Verona-Portrait) does not seem to remove all doubts. The potentiell artists (Cignaroli/ della Rosa) are not sure. The really small basis of assuming for Sonnleitner was only a letter by Leopold Mozart writing, his son had been painted at Verona. –  But how about just this picture and not just another one? What we really see is a boy with small, narrow eyes in nearly green colours, a small forehead, plump cheeks, a strange nose course and lips not comparable to Mozart. The music sheet was not created by Mozart. Last not least the chair back and the showy ring on his finger would have hindererd a real pianist like Mozart. But last not least: The frame with the cartridge, wearing his name, is not original! All of these facts do not proof authenticity.

The picture by J.N. d. Croce of the Mozart family show Leopold Mozart as a patriarch and as a client of the painter, whereas the son is underevaluated. The eye colours of W.A. Mozart are beginning to turn brown. For some time therefore he must have been treated by mercury medicaments.

Pict. 7  J.N. d. Croce, Detail from Mozart Family, 1780

Another portrait done 1777 at Salzburg and later transported to Padre Martini, Bologna, is confirming the bulging eyes. This so called Bologna-Portrait, 1777, shown at the Civico Museo Musicale, Bologna is a just copy of the lost original.

A portrait by Joseph Grassi, Vienna ca. 1783, now at Moscow Glinka-Museum, comes close to be authentic.

Pict. 8 Joseph Grassi, W.A. Mozart, Vienna ca. 1783, ca. 27 y., Moscow Glinka-Museum

Pict. 9 Jos. Grassi, W.A.Mozart, detail, modificated colours.

The most convincing authenticity is from the portraits by J. Lange und B. Stock:

Pict. 10 J. Lange, W.A. Mozart, playing the piano, detail, 1782

Pict. 11 Dorothea Stock, W.A. Mozart, Dresden 1789

Thirty year after his death Barbara Krafft reconstructed a most popular picture of W.A. Mozart as a piece of phantasy on the basis of current informations. But she had never seen him.

Pict. 12  Barbara Krafft, W.A. Mozart (1756 – 91), posthum 1819

Untypical are the bulbous nose, small eyes with slightly brown colour, a sleepy view without expression. The painting  of B. Krafft disappoints our expectations of Mozarts eyes as a mirror of his genius. So we are happy to see the typical characteristics of W.A. Mozart documented by the authentic pictures in his youth portrait (s.o.).

 

 

 

 

 

 

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