Ludwig van Beethoven, Büste - Plastik von Antoine Bourdelle, Fotografie, Ettal, um 1970?

In the years around 1900 the admiration for Beethoven reached a special height not only in Germany and Austria but also in France. Parisian artist Antoine Bourdelle played a major role in developing a novel and modern way of depicting the composer. From 1893 until 1905 he worked in French impressionistic sculptor Auguste Rodin"s (1840-1915) studio. This experience had such a strong influence on his artistic development

that from now on he considered Rodin as his greatest role model.

Rodin"s style can also be found in the Beethoven paintings Antoine Bourdelle drew in these years. While he used authentic portraits of the composer for his early busts, he later designed quite expressive sculptures that hardly resembled Beethoven. His surface treatment became much more liberal, respective shapes turned rougher and the composer"s features sometimes even seemed deformed.

The shown Beethoven portrait from 1902 gives evidence of how strongly Bourdelle imitated Rodin"s style. It is no wonder that this bust was sometimes attributed to Rodin.