[Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus.]
THE CELEBRATED ENGRAVED PORTRAIT OF MOZART, HIS FATHER AND SISTER BY DELAFOSSE, AFTER A WATERCOLOUR BY CARMONTELLE
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[Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus.]
THE CELEBRATED ENGRAVED PORTRAIT OF MOZART, HIS FATHER AND SISTER BY DELAFOSSE, AFTER A WATERCOLOUR BY CARMONTELLE
showing the seven-year-old Wolfgang seated at the harpsichord, his father Leopold standing behind him and playing the violin, and his sister Maria Anna ('Nannerl') in the background singing, the portrait entitled below ("LEOPOLD MOZART, Pere de MARIANNE MOZART, Virtuose âgée de onze ans et de J.G. WOLFGANG MOZART, Compositeur et Maitre de Musique âgé de sept ans", 1 page, large folio (36.8 x 21.7cm), engraved, on thick, laid paper, mounted at the head on card, [Paris,] 1764, small tear to left-hand margin, repaired, slightly affecting engraved surface
One of the most famous of all musical portraits.
Mozart. Engraved portrait by Delafosse, after Carmontelle
Catalogue Note
A good impression of the iconic - and very rare - 1764 engraving by Jean-Baptiste Delafosse (1721-1775) after the watercolour by Louis Carrogis de Carmontelle (1717-1806). Leopold Mozart's letters reveal that the watercolour was executed several times in Paris in November 1763, and that the engraving was prepared the following spring with the assistance of the artist Christian von Mechel (1737-1817), an acquaintance of the Mozarts (it was possibly engraved by Mechel and simply signed by Delafosse). Copies of the print were subsequently used for publicity purposes by Leopold during the remainder of the family's great European journey of 1763-1766. No copy of the print has been traced in the British Library. (See King, A Mozart Legacy and Mozart in the British Museum).
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