Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus

diameter c.13.8cm, executed in black chalk heightened with touches of coloured chalk and white heightening, and with beige and grey wash, on paper laid down on card, within pen and brown ink framing lines, inscription to the reverse ("Portrait de Mozart éxécuté pendant un séjour à Paris à l'époque de la mort de sa mère"), probably in an early nineteenth-century French hand, circular mount, detached nineteenth-century card backing variously inscribed in blue crayon and ink ("2306/11 Portrait de Mozart exécuté pendant son séjour à Paris à l'époque de la mort de sa Mère en 1778 par Augustin de Saint Aubin Messina 1878. General-Consul D.^r Felix Bamberg..."), framed and glazed, no place or date [Paris, 1778?], traces of mount to rim of portrait

Formerly owned by Felix Bamberg, General Consul in Messina (c.1878), later (after 1894) by Rudolf Philipp Goldschmidt in Berlin

This black chalk drawing is fresh and clear, with little or no discolouration. The paper is laid (hand-made) paper laid down on card, so that we have not been able to inspect the watermark. On the back of the card there is an early C19 inscription in black ink (“Portrait de Mozart…” etc: as transcribed in the catalogue description). Also in the frame is a later C19 description, also French, containing the attribution to Augustin de Saint-Aubin, which we can confirm. The item is framed and glazed, as shown in the photograph on page 2 of the printed catalogue.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This finely executed drawing by the French draughtsman and engraver Augustin de Saint-Aubin (1736-1807) is a well-known image in the Mozart iconography, being recorded in Robert Bory, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Sein Leben und sein Werk in Bildern (Geneva, 1948), p.103, and among the unauthenticated portraits of Mozart in Otto Erich Deutsch and Maximilian Zenger, Mozart und seine Welt in zeitgenössischen Bildern(Kassel, 1961), No.635, pp.291 and 371 (commentary). Although Mozart's letters do not record that the composer's portrait was drawn by Saint-Aubin, the nineteenth-century ascription to the painter on the now detached back mount fully accords with our understanding of the artist's style; the image itself, is also recognisably that of the composer, as we know him from the silverpoint drawing by Doris Stock and the various medallions in wax, wood and plaster by Leonhard Posch.

Please also see the frontispiece illustration on page 2.