Wien, Alsergrund, Schwarzspanierstraße 15, Wohnung von Ludwig van Beethoven (Schwarzspanierhaus), Schlaf- und Klavierzimmer - Radierung von Gustav Leybold nach einer Federzeichnung von Johann Nepomuk Hoechle, Wien, 1827

The Viennese artist Johann Nepomuk Hoechle drew Beethoven's death room in the "Schwarzspanierhaus" after the composer's death. In his reminiscences Gerhard von Breuning states that Hoechle did the drawing straight after Beethoven's death. The picture shown here is an etching by Gustav Leybold after the drawing. Breuning points out that the inscription "Beethoven's study" is incorrect: the room depicted here is the composer's living room and music room rather than his study.

The drawing shows the room at the angle from which Beethoven must have viewed it when he lay in bed at the time of his illness. On the left is the door which leads from the "entrance cabinet" into the living room; the Broadwood grand piano, moved into the room, is covered in music and papers. The grand piano which Conrad Graf put at Beethoven's disposal is not shown, it might already have been taken out of the apartment before the drawing was done. Gerhard von Breuning also mentions the rack of books between the windows, but he stresses that the bust on the right-hand windowsill, which has been the subject of much speculation by Beethoven scholars, was freely invented by the artist.(S.B.)