| Joseph Willibrod Mähler | |
|---|---|
Beethoven in 1815, portrait by Joseph Willibrod Mähler. |
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| Born | Koblenz, Germany |
| Died | Vienna, Austria |
| Occupation | Painter |
Things worth knowing The multi-talented artist Joseph Willibrord Mähler first served an apprenticeship in Dresden with Anton Graff to become a painter and later on, he continued with his studies at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. Mähler then decided to start a civil career and he became an officer of the secret service "Geheime Kabinettskanzlei" in Vienna. Now, painting was just a hobby to him.
Mähler was introduced to Ludwig van Beethoven by Beethoven's school day friend Stephan von Breunig around 1803. One year later already, he painted his first portrait of Beethoven, which shows three quarters of the composer's body in an Arcadian landscape, holding a lyre in his hand. (Today, the painting is located in the Beethoven Memorial, the Pasqualati-Haus in Vienna.) In the 19th century, this illustration - one of just a few depictions of Beethoven when he was young - mainly became famous due to a lithograph by Josef Kriehuber.
Around 1815 Mähler produced a series of portraits showing contemporary Viennese composers. As written in the "Allgemeine Musikzeitung" ("General Music Journal") in August 1815 "all of them distinguish themselves in a most creditable way through the effectual brush stroke, the descriptive resemblance and the distinctive expression of their soul". A half length portrait of Beethoven was part of the series. The painter created several versions of this portrait. Mähler must have appreciated this portrait very much, .[1][2].