From the Archives: Beethoven
Beethoven 2020: Celebrating the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth
Head and shoulders painted plaster bust of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), clad al’antica, after a bust by Johann Nepomuk Schaller (1777-1842) of 1827. The sitter’s cloak is gathered at the right shoulder with a morse, the whole atop an integral socle. Rectangular name-plate below unlettered.
Dimensions: 70 x 39 x 28cm.
Created by the Philharmonic Society in 1871 to celebrate the centenary of Beethoven’s birth.
The bust was presented to the Society by the Philharmonic Society (later Royal Philharmonic Society) in 1871. The Minutes of The Royal Society of Musicians of 6 August 1871 record: “A communication was read from the Philharmonic Society requesting the Governors & Court of Assistants to accept a cast of an original Bust of Beethoven in the Society’s possession. It was pro[posed] by Mr Willy, Sec[onde]d by Mr Coote that a letter of thanks be sent to the Directors accepting their valuable gift. Carried unanimously”). A number of copies from the original were made and were given to the following collections and exhibitions spaces: Queen Victoria, Cambridge University (Fitzwilliam Museum), Royal Academy of Music, The Royal Society of Musicians, Crystal Palace and Broadwood & Co.
Further literature:
Myles Birkett Foster, History of the Philharmonic Society of London, 1813-1912 (London: John Lane, 1912), p.326, see also pp.314-326.
Documents, Letters, &c., relating to the bust of Ludwig van Beethoven, presented to the Philharmonic Society of London, by Frau Fanny Linzbauer, née Ponsing. Translated and arranged for the Society by Doyne C. Bell (London: 1871). [Doyne Courtenay Bell (1831-1888)]