Ludwig van Beethoven

In this copperplate engraving Beethoven is looking straight at the viewer. It shows the composer at the age of 44. It is the time of his greatest public fame during the Congress of Vienna. His piano sonatas, symphonies and the cantata “The Glorious Moment” (Op. 136) contributed to his repute. A first version of the engraving was published by the Viennese publisher and art dealer Artaria in the year 1814. Beethoven himself sat model for a reworking of the engraving. It shows the effort to represent the composer as authentically as possible.