Portrait of Beethoven

The painting is a copy of the famous portrait by Joseph Stieler. Stieler did not attempt to make an entirely realistic picture of the composer, but augmented it with the aura of Beethoven’s life and work. Thus, vegetation can be seen in the background, suggesting the importance of nature as a source of inspiration for Beethoven. The composer is looking into the distance. Even in past times this had been a way of alluding to the special ability of musicians to recognise and see things that other people are not able to. At the same time it shows the composer’s achievement of bringing these ideas into an artistic form, here represented by the composition of the Missa Solemnis (Op. 123), the title of which can be seen on the page in Beethoven’s own handwriting and which he considered one of his most important works.