Beethoven's image beyond his lifetime : the significance of posthumous iconography for the reception of the composer, 1827-1902

• Main Author: Francis, Suzanne Marie
• Published: University of East Anglia 2010
• Subjects: 780
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.527642

At the time of his death in 1827, the image of Beethoven as we recognise him today was firmly fixed in the minds of his contemporaries. As his musical language continued to inspire composers, so too did artists respond to the challenge of maintaining and evolving his "heroic" image already firmly established in the portraiture, sketches, busts and other art during his lifetime. Yet the study of posthumous Beethoven iconography becomes more than just an issue of whether he is portrayed accurately. Instead the composer's own role changed within visual art after the initial cautious portrayals dating from the late 1820s and 1830s; no longer was he depicted only in singular portraits, but was also introduced into larger ensemble paintings comprising iconic figures of the time. The advent of the creation of statues of Beethoven as permanent monuments to his greatness also signified a new direction for the image of the composer after 1845 and played a significant role in emphasising his transition from mere mortal to eternal deity within the realms of Music and Art. These intertwining strands of the construction of Beethoven's visual identity after his death continued to evolve unceasingly throughout the later nineteenth century, culminating in an interpretation by the turn of the twentieth century that both reflected and was influenced by contemporary reception of his life and music.