Ludwig van Beethoven - Stich von Johann Joseph Neidl von 1801 nach einer Zeichnung von Gandolph Ernst Stainhauser von Treuberg aus dem Jahr 1801, Fotografie von Emil Koch, Bonn, um 1890

This depiction of the approximately 30-year-old Beethoven was created after a drawing of the Austrian portraitist and miniaturist Gandolph Ernst Stainhauser von Treuberg (1766-1805). It shows the young composer when he was at the first peak of his success in the Vienna music world.

Stainhauser's drawing was the master for various copper engravings, which had been created in Vienna and Leipzig from 1801 until 1805. The reproduced work shown here, was created by the Viennese engraver Johann Joseph Neidl. The publishing house Giovanni Cappi published it in 1801. A few months later, Cappi published the original version of Beethoven's "Moonshine Sonata" (op. 27 No. 2), which soon thereafter became extraordinarily successful.(S.B.)