the protrait by August Ludwig Stein

[Preston]

Hi all,
Have any of you seen the portait of Beethoven by August Ludwig Stein? It is at this location http://www.lvbeethoven.com/Portraits...Portraits.html . I feel that this one and the one at www.beethovenseroica.com (main page)looks more how Beethoven looked, what do y'all think?

Kind Regards,
Preston

[Fidelio]

Originally posted by Preston:
Hi all,
Have any of you seen the portait of Beethoven by August Ludwig Stein? It is at this location http://www.lvbeethoven.com/Portraits...Portraits.html . I feel that this one and the one at www.beethovenseroica.com (main page)looks more how Beethoven looked, what do y'all think?

Kind Regards,
Preston

The idealized portrait by Joseph Willibrord Mahler, painted 1804/5 is one that Beethoven kept this painting on his wall until he died.
It has been suggested that the first really good portrait is the miniature signed and dated 1803 by Christian Horneman. Beethoven gave the portrait to Stephan von Breuning. Comparison with the Klein mask shows Horneman accurately represented Beethoven's facial features and proportions, even to the disfiguring pock-marks. Perhaps then the Horneman miniature is the most important portrait before the life mask of 1812.
Both Cooper (Beethoven Compendium) and HC Robbins Landon give good accounts of the portraits.

[Preston]

Wanted to let y'all know that I do not feel that the August Ludwig Stein resembles Beethoven, as much as I said it did, in my opinion. Yes, I was mistaken.

[Megan]

Portraits




Did Beethoven regard the Blasius Hofel portrait to be the most lifelike ?


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[Peter]

The Hofel portrait above is an engraving from a pencil drawing by Louis Letronne (1814). Hofel was able to speak about this portrait in 1860 to Thayer. The publishers Artaria had asked Letronne for a drawing of Beethoven as the basis for a new engraving - Hofel found the drawing to be unsatisfactory and asked Beethoven to sit again for him. Contemporary accounts state that the portrait is an excellent likeness - however it is considered somewhat idealized (no pock marks for example). Beethoven himself sent many copies out to friends, including Antonia Von Brentano. As for Hofel himself, this engraving (his first) brought him many further commissions.

[Preston]

As of now, as Fidelio said and other researchers, I feel that the life mask of 1812 is what I am leaning towards.

This picture reminds me of the life mask. I feel it does a good job capturing his sadness and depression. It also resembles the other portraits better than the Stein. The way it captures things like his mouth and below, above his right eye, his hair line, the roundness of his nose, etc. is pretty good I think.

Preston

[Peter]

The life mask of 1812 and the bust Klein made based on it are undoubtedly the best representation of Beethoven's features.

[Preston]

Thank goodness for the life mask.