Portrait miniature of Mozart, 1777, by an anonymous artist.
One of only two authentic paintings of Mozart remaining in private hands will come up at Sotheby’s in London on November 20. The rare portrait miniature was given by the composer to his then 18 year old cousin Maria Anna Thekla Mozart in exchange for one from her. It is one of only a dozen or so authentic paintings and drawings of Mozart.
The miniature, which captures the twenty-one year old Mozart, has seldom been seen in colour and has never been reproduced in colour in the standard Mozart literature. An enduring token of the fleeting amorous attachment between the composer and his first love, Mozart’s present to Maria Anna – referred to several times in the series of letters he wrote to her – is being offered for sale by descendants of Maria Anna’s family. It will the highlight at an auction of Music, Contentnal and Russian Books and Manuscripts and is estimated at £200,000-300,000.