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Joseph Willibrord Mähler's portrait of Ludwig van Beethoven, painted in approximately 1804 or 1805, is the first of four untitled portraits the painter made of the composer. Today it hangs in the Pasqualati House of the Vienna Museum. == Background == Joseph Willibrord Mähler was introduced to Beethoven by (1774–1827). Though eventually a court secretary, Mähler was interested in music, was a good singer and did some composing. Beethoven took him to one rehearsal of ''Leonore'' in 1805. What is known about the painting stems from Alexander Wheelock Thayer's biography. He first came across the original Mähler painting during a research visit (for his Beethoven biography) to Caroline Barbara van Beethoven (born Naske), the widow of Karl Beethoven, the composer's nephew. Because Thayer owned a copy, he was particularly interested in learning about the circumstances under which it was painted. He considered this painting the most interesting and engaging of the portraits he had encountered. He later interviewed Joseph Willibrord Mähler on May 24, 1860. Thayer characterized the friendship between Beethoven and Mähler as one where composer's kindness was returned by Mähler with warm affection and admiration for composer's genius. In offering recollections of Beethoven, Mähler spoke of his 1804 portrait and wondered where it was. To his question, Thayer responded that it belonged to the widow of Karl Beethoven. Mähler then revealed that he had a copy of it. Mähler painted four portraits of Beethoven. Only the first image, dated by Thayer at 1804–05, contains a nearly full view of the composer. Beethoven apparently liked this portrait very much and owned it until his death.〔("Willibrord Joseph Mähler (1778–1860), Ludwig van Beethoven, 1804 – Fotografie von Rudolf Stepanek nach dem Gemälde von Willibrord Joseph Mähler" ), Digital Archives Beethoven House Bonn.〕 There are only three references to this portrait in contemporary Beethoven sources: #In Beethoven's Nachlass there was an undated note to Mähler: "I beg of you to return my portrait to me as soon as you have made sufficient use of it—if you need it longer I beg of you at least to make haste—I have promised the portrait to a stranger, a lady who saw it here, that she may hang it in her room during her stay of several weeks. Who can withstand such charming importunities, as a matter of course a portion of the lovely favors which I shall thus garner will also fall to you"; #A brief reference in Anton Schindler's biography, noting its "insignificance"; #In his ''ドイツ語:Aus dem Schwarzspanierhause,'' (son of Stephan, who had introduced composer and painter), provided a description of Beethoven's apartment. The portrait of Beethoven’s grandfather was prominently displayed in the entry hall, while the Mähler portrait was on the back wall of a storage room where visitors were never admitted. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Beethoven (Mähler, 1804–05)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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