Numerous historical paintings and other works of art purport to depict the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Of these, only a fraction can be shown by historical evidence to be authentic portrayals. The others are variously fraudulent, attribution errors, or sentimental works of the imagination. Of the authentic portraits, the posthumous 1819 painting by Barbara Krafft is the best known. The task of distinguishing authentic from inauthentic portraits has occupied Mozart scholars for many years.
Background
Mozart's physical appearance was described by family and friends, among them his wife Constanze, his sister Nannerl and his colleague Michael Kelly. These descriptions share some common traits: Mozart's small stature, thin frame, and pale complexion. The composer's face was marked by his childhood case of smallpox. He had a prominent nose, large blue eyes and a small mouth.
Only a few portraits of Mozart were made during his lifetime; most portraits were realised after his death, as his fame spread. According to Robert Bory, 62 portraits of Mozart and pictorial representations of all kinds exist; but they vary widely in size, media used, style, and above all, authenticity. Mozart experts who have examined the portraits, such as Arthur Hutchings, and Alfred Einstein, emphasize the contrast between the sheer number of artworks that purport to represent Mozart and their sparse iconographic value. Schurig wrote in 1913: "Mozart has been the subject of more portraits quite unrelated to his actual appearance than any other famous man. An adoring posterity has not conceived a more incorrect physical image of any other notability." Such views arise from the analysis of the existing paintings, miniatures, sketches, drawings, cameos, and engravings of the composer.
The German musicologist Emil Vogel realised the first detailed study of the Mozart iconography in 1899, followed by Edward Speyer in 1916 and 1919. Arthur Schurig recopilated and described the available portraits (classified as authentic, dubious and inauthentic) in an appendix of his 1920 edition of Leopold Mozart's travel notes from between 1763 and 1771. in 1926 (1926). Wolfgang A. Mozarts Bildnisse. and in 1941 made further studies in the vein of Schurig. Otto Erich Deutsch established in 1961 an exhaustive list of the authentic portraits and the forgeries, mostly from the 19th century. The conclusion of this work is that only eight works of art, of unequal interest, were produced by authors who knew Mozart directly, or by sketches taken from drawings made from life. Since then, Mozart's "biographical paintings" have been published with more care, generally following the criteria that emerged from this analysis.
The inauthentic portraits consist of three types. First are portraits of other people (most often young male musicians), claimed later to be of Mozart. Second are forgeries of various kinds, created for money or fame, in which the image is claimed to represent Mozart but is fabricated. The third category is formed by fantastical paintings, the product of the artist's imagination, with no basis in Mozart's actual appearance or in existing iconography. Most of these are inspired by the abundant supply of myths and legends that arose surrounding Mozart. The inauthentic portraits are not always worthless, since some of them provide informative iconographic data on musical instruments of Mozart's time, or on the other people who appear in them.
Authentic portraits Even the few portraits that have passed muster as authentic have not escaped criticism. Alfred Einstein wrote: "No earthly remains of Mozart survived save a few wretched portraits, no two of which are alike".
Anonymous 1763 portrait
This shows Mozart in front of a keyboard looking at the viewer, dressed in court costume given to him in 1762 as a gift from Empress Maria Theresa, which came from the wardrobe of Archduke Maximilian Francis of Austria, as documented in a letter by Wolfgang's father Leopold Mozart on 19 October 1762.
It was commissioned by Leopold himself and is considered to be the earliest authentic portrait of Mozart. It is attributed to the Austrian painter Pietro Antonio Lorenzoni, who also painted Wolfgang's sister Maria Anna Mozart, often known today by her family name "Nannerl". It was created shortly before the family embarked on their three-year tour through Western Europe. The artist executed first the interiors, instruments and clothes before the children posed. It is oil on canvas, and currently owned by the Mozarteum in Salzburg (inherited directly from the Mozart family) and displayed at Mozart's birthplace. It was widely distributed in biographies and other publications through lithographs, some of which modify Mozart's face as in this example.
Carmontelle's 1763–64 family portrait
This shows Wolfgang at the harpsichord, with Leopold behind playing the violin and Maria Anna "as if she were singing". It was painted by French artist Louis Carrogis Carmontelle during the stay of the Mozart family in Paris of 1763–64, part of their grand tour through Western Europe. It was commissioned by Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm, patron of the Mozarts at the time. That the portrait is authentic cannot be doubted, since its creation is attested in a letter that Leopold Mozart wrote home to his landlord and friend Lorenz Hagenauer (1 April 1764).
An engraving is being made post haste after our portraits, which M. de Carmontelle, an amateur, has painted extremely well.
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. Carmontelle kept the original, whose later history is laid out in Speyer (1916). Mozart's sister was referring to the engraving when she wrote to Breitkopf & Härtel on 24 November 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 that he became so disfigured: and even more so when he returned from Italy , he acquired the Italian yellow colour that made him completely unrecognizable. He was a small but well-proportioned child.
It is in watercolours on paper, with subsequent copies made using griffel, sanguine, gouache, and engraving. The original is currently owned by and exhibited at the Musée Condé in the Château de Chantilly.
Anonymous 1770 Verona portrait
This shows Mozart looking at the viewer while playing the dubious "Molto allegro" in G major (K. 72a), on a harpsichord made in Venice on 1583 by Giovanni Celestius. It was painted in Verona between January 6 and 7 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 on the origins of this picture in his letter to his wife on 7 January 1770. In addition, Lugiati himself also sent a letter to Anna Maria mentioning the portrait. The authorship 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.
It is oil on canvas, and was previously owned by the descendants of pianist Alfred Cortot,Simonin, Laurianne (13 November 2019). "A Rare Portrait of Mozart at Auction". Barnebys' Magazine but it was sold to an anonymous art collector in 2019 at a Christie's auction house in Paris. Initially valued at around one million euros, the painting was finally acquired for over four million,"Mozart childhood portrait sold for €4m at Paris auction", BBC News (2019) making it not only the highest-priced portrait of Mozart, but the highest-priced artefact related to him. German painter Leopold Bode realised a reimagined copy of the portrait in 1859, by then 68 years after Mozart's death. This copy is also oil on canvas, owned and exhibited by the Mozarteum in Salzburg.
Anonymous 1773 miniature
This shows the upper half of Mozart looking at the viewer. It was apparently painted in Milan in 1773, during the third journey of Mozart in Italy. It is attributed to the Austrian-Italian artist Martin Knoller, a teacher in the academy of arts of Milan at the time. Knoller was known to the Mozart family even before the first trip to Italy, according to a letter by Leopold to his wife on 17 February 1770. The portrait was in the possession of Wolfgang's sister Maria Anna Mozart, possibly given by Mozart himself. The dating of this picture derives from a letter of 2 July 1819, in which she referred to the painting. Barbara Krafft probably took it, alongside the Salzburg family portrait and Lange's miniature as a basis for her own posthumous portrait. Simon Keefe is the only notable scholar that doubts its authenticity. It is a watercolour on ivory, surrounded by a leather frame, and currently exhibited at Mozart's birthplace in Salzburg.
Copies of lost 1770 Bologna portrait
This represents Mozart wearing the chivalric Order of the Golden Spur, conferred on him by Pope Clement XIV on 4 July 1770.Amadeus Mozart, Wolfgang. Mozart's Letters, Mozart's Life: Selected Letters, translated and edited by Robert Spaethling, (W. W. Norton & Company, 2000), p. 17. It is an anonymous copy realised in Salzburg in 1777, from a lost original dated 1770, commissioned by Giovanni Battista Martini. Wolfgang met Martini in Bologna in 1770, during his first travel to Italy. The friar instructed the young Mozart and helped him in being accepted as a member of the famous Accademia Filarmonica di Bologna, one of the most respected musical institutions in Europe at the time. The painting is mentioned by Leopold in a letter to Martini, who remarked "It has little value as a piece of art, but as to the issue of resemblance, I can assure you that it is perfect". It is attributed to Johann Nepomuk della Croce. It is oil on canvas, and is currently exhibited at the Museo internazionale e biblioteca della musica in Bologna. A copy was made in 1925 by Italian painter Antonio Maria Nardi, which is owned and exhibited by the Mozarteum in Salzburg. Another copy in watercolour was realised by John Singer Sargent in 1873, exhibited at the Fitzwilliam Museum."Mozart, after the portrait in the Liceo Musicale, Bologna, by Sargent", Fitzwilliam Museum
Anonymous 1780–81 family portrait
This family portrait shows Wolfgang and his sister Maria Anna playing four hands at the keyboard, with Leopold by the side holding his violin. On the wall hangs a medallion with the picture of Anna Maria Mozart, who had died suddenly in 1778 while accompanying Wolfgang in a journey to Paris. The small statue of Apollo in the background symbolizes the musical nature of the Mozart family, and the book, writing ink and a quill beside Leopold reference his influential 1755 violin playing treatise Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule. It was painted between 1780 and 1781. It is traditionally attributed to Johann Nepomuk della Croce, a prolific Austrian painter who was active in Salzburg during the late 18th century.