Help w/Identifying Beethoven Lithograph & German Text

[anakranism]

hi everyone. i just registered with your forum in the hope of getting some info about this piece i found today. The print is framed. if you click on this link http://www.vintagehawaiianshirt.net/ebay/beethoven.html
you can see a few pictures. i'm not sure if this is a lithograph, but the text and handwriting below appear to be old. i do not speak or read German, so anyone out there who could translate would be greatly appreciated. anyway, it's a very interesting piece and i would love to hear from others...thanks

[gardibolt]

The text says, "After the original portrait by Stieler, for whom alone Beethoven granted sittings. The original is in the possession of Countess v. Sauerma (born Spohr)." I can't make out the handwriting.

The original painting is now held by the Beethovenhaus in Bonn. Everything you might want to know about the original is here:

http://www.lvbeethoven.com/Portraits...rlStieler.html

It's not true, by the way, that Beethoven sat only for Stieler; there are at least three other known portraits for which he sat. Stieler was practicing a little puffery there.

[anakranism]

thanks for your reply gardibolt. what i really need is translation of the handwriting. i'm trying to figure if the print is a lithograph or some other reproduction. anyway, thanks

[Rutradelusasa]

I can only make these words out:

Meiner siebenundzwangizer jähriger Freundin, ??
?? künstlerin ?? Ruth Gray ??
?? Rosalie Gräfin von Sauerma geb. Spohr
Berlim 10 Juni 1899

It would translate as:
My 27-year old friend, ??
?? artist ?? Ruth Gray ??
etc etc

=====
I would guess it is a birthday note or that they knew each other for 27 years

[Rutradelusasa]

With some googl'ing we discover that, according to here, this Rosalie person was a harpist, born in 1829, dead in 1919. I can't find info on such a common name as Ruth Gray.

[Cetto von Cronstorff]

I can only make these words out:

Meiner siebenundzwangizer jähriger Freundin, ??
?? künstlerin ?? Ruth Gray ??
?? Rosalie Gräfin von Sauerma geb. Spohr
Berlim 10 Juni 1899

It would translate as:
My 27-year old friend, ??
?? artist ?? Ruth Gray ??
etc etc

=====
I would guess it is a birthday note or that they knew each other for 27 years

You almost got it right.

Meiner liebenswürdigen jungen Freundin, der
vortrefflichen Künstlerin Fräulein Ruth Gray zur
Erinnerung Rosalie Gräfin v Sauerma geb. Spohr.
Berlin d. 10 Juni 1899

[Cetto von Cronstorff]

With some googl'ing we discover that, according to here, this Rosalie person was a harpist, born in 1829, dead in 1919. I can't find info on such a common name as Ruth Gray.

Rosalie Spohr (b. 22 January 1819 in Braunschweig) was the daughter of of Louis Spohr's younger brother, the architect Wilhelm Spohr (1788-1860). She was one of the best harpists of her time and went on concert tours all across Europe. After her marriage to Theodor Friedrich Anton Xaver Graf von Sauerma (1819-1880) on 19 June 1855 she stopped performing professionally. She died on 11 January 1818 in Berlin. (See: Christian Juranek, Gegen eine ganze Zeit. Hans Graf von Veltheim (1818-1854): Leben, Literatur, Kunst, PhD Hildesheim 2006, p. 141)

[Peter]

Rosalie Spohr (b. 22 January 1819 in Braunschweig) was the daughter of of Louis Spohr's younger brother, the architect Wilhelm Spohr (1788-1860). She was one of the best harpists of her time and went on concert tours all across Europe. After her marriage to Theodor Friedrich Anton Xaver Graf von Sauerma (1819-1880) on 19 June 1855 she stopped performing professionally. She died on 11 January 1818 in Berlin. (See: Christian Juranek, Gegen eine ganze Zeit. Hans Graf von Veltheim (1818-1854): Leben, Literatur, Kunst, PhD Hildesheim 2006, p. 141)

There seems to be some confusion over her dates - presumably you meant she died in 1918 not 1818! The dates I have found are (1829 – 1919).

[Cetto von Cronstorff]

There seems to be some confusion over her dates - presumably you meant she died in 1918 not 1818! The dates I have found are (1829 – 1919).

Of course she died in 1918. (Hans Joachim Zingel, Rosalia, Gräfin Sauerma, geb. Spohr, Allgemeine Musikzeitung, Berlin 1934, p. 191).