Ludwig van Beethoven, Schädel mit Ergänzungen - Fotografie des Ateliers Frankenstein, Reproduktion, Bonn oder Wien, 1986

Aside from the well-known photograph by Johann Batta Rottmayer, showing Beethoven"s skull with its characteristic bulge on the right temple (B 1350), there is at least one other photograph of the reconstructed skullbones, a print of which is in the picture collection of the Beethoven-Haus. This photograph does not, however, show the skull itself, but rather a reconstruction: the gaps between the bones on the forehead have been closed and missing parts have been added.

The photograph by the Viennese studio Frankenstein, which was probably taken in the 80ies of the 19th century, also shows this recontruction. It is, however, quite clearly not a photograph of the skull itself or of Rottmayer"s image, but of a plaster cast. The area around the nostrils plainly shows this; a plaster hollow can be identified instead of the actual opening and there is no sign of the nasal septum. (S.B.)