Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Welcome on my Blog about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791). Here you will read information about a miniature painting that was sold in 1989 as a painting created during his life.

The painting is made on ivory and is very small (2,2 cm by 3 cm)

The painting was before owned by Baron Robert Stuker (1863 - 1940). He was the confidant of King George I of Greece from 1902 till 1913. After his death, his stephson Jurg Stuker inherits his castle Schloss Gerzensee in Switzerland. Jurg Stuker died childless in 1989. They sold the castle and all the household effects were sold on an special auction. The miniature painting was sold as a painting made around 1770. The painting is setled in a horseshoe- shaped brooch, that is made around 100 years later than the painting.

There are only a few paintings made of Mozart during his life. It's very remarkable that if this painting is really made around 1770, why it's sold on an auction like this and why it's not worldwide known as the other portraits? Is the painting maybe made after Mozart his life and is it just a copy, or did there happened a hugh mistake during the auction in 1989? 

At first sight the miniature painting looks quite similar as the worldwide known Barbara Kraft portrait, that was painted in 1819 (28 years after Mozart his death). If the painter tried to copy this portrait, why there are then a few details totally different? Why is the ear totally visible? Why is the haircut different (in a V-shape on the Barbara Kraft portrait)? Why are the nose and eyes totally different? It looks like just the outside lines and the chin are similar. 

Remarkable is that on the miniature, Mozart his hair-bow is much larger. It has about the same size as on another portraits of him.

Also remarkable are the eyes on the miniature painting. They're little bit compressed, as can be also seen on the above miniature and on the Verona portrait. The Verona portrait was made when Mozart was 14 years old. Mozart his face was not yet fully grown, if you take this in account, are the noses than not a little bit similar? And is the white neck-tie also not quite similar?

Why the painter didn't painted exact all the details the same from the Barbara Kraft painting? Or is there another explanation for this?

On 2nd July 1819 Nannerl (Mozart his older sister, 1751 - 1829) writes her letter to a friend Joseph Sonnleithner her first and only time about Barbara Kraft. The Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien gave Kraft the order to create a new painting of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Nannerl offered her to borrow her three paintings of her brother. Kraft used just two portraits for creating her painting, what would become later one of the most worldwide known paintings in the world. She used the large family portrait that was made in 1780-1781.

She used also a very small miniature painting that is currently lost. Nannerl descibed in this letter that Barbara Kraft was disable to transport the big family-portrait (188 cm by 140 cm) to her atelier in the beginning. She used just the lost miniature for creating the outside lines for her painting. After this she used the family portrait to finish the painting. 

According to Nannerl, the lost miniature painting was made in 1783 in Vienna. Mozart sended it to her to Salzburg. In her letters Nannerl described this lost miniature as follow:

*  Very small

*  Mozart looks older than on the family-portrait

*  Colours and liniaments are quite similar on both paintings

*  Small in handicraft (klein in bastel) and difficult to copy

When you compare the miniature with these remarks, maybe there could be a link between this miniature painting and the lost miniature? 

Thank you for reading my blog. Currently my research about this painting is still in process. Please don't hesitate to write your remarks or quesions here.