Mozart and the Keyboard Culture of His Time

Unauthenticated Portrait
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Martin van Meytens was Empress Maria Theresa’s court painter. This portrait (assuming that it is him) stands out among the depictions of the child Mozart. Rather than depicting Mozart as somehow removed from the real world, either as the cherub-child not quite part of this world or as the musical genius bordering on automaton, the artist portrays Mozart here as the most aware person in the crowd, gazing towards the viewer with disarming seriousness.

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During a Concert at the Court of Empress Maria Theresa, 1760. Oil painting by Martin van Meytens (detail). Original owned by the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.
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continue to What the Score Doesn't Tell Us
Introduction
From Sketch to Completed Work
From Print to CD
How did Mozart Compose?
The Mozart Myth: Tales of a Forgery
Mozart's Images
Mozart's Images Imagined
What the Score Doesn't Tell Us
The Piano Lesson
The Cult of Mozart
Commodification & Kitsch
Credits
Cornell University Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections Cornell University Library

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