'Lost' portrait of Mozart reveals bloated result of years of drinking and womanising
By Bojan Pancevski in Berlin
(Filed: 09/01/2005)

A newly discovered and unflattering portrait of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, painted in 1790 just a year before his death at the age of 34, has revealed for the first time the impact on his looks of the composer's louche way of life.

Despite the tendency at the time for artists to enhance their subjects, increasing the chance of collecting their fee, the painting shows a greying and podgy Mozart, with heavy bags under his eyes, who looks much older than 34 - and a far cry from the impish prodigy often featured on Austrian tourist brochures.

His flamboyant living in his home town of Salzburg revolved around rich foods, heavy drinking and womanising, all of which may have contributed to his premature death in Vienna while he was working on a Requiem Mass.

The 32in by 25in oil painting by Johann Georg Edlinger, a German artist, belongs to the Berlin Picture Gallery. It was bought in 1934 for 650 reichsmarks but later forgotten about and lay collecting dust in the museum's storage depot.

One of only 10 portraits in existence, it was recently rediscovered and authenticated by Wolfgang Seiller, an authority on Mozart and distant relative of the composer.

Any idea where we can see it?

andyman91 said:

Here:

http://fr.news.yahoo.com/...47l12.html


.

I don't know, he looks pretty sexy to me.

andyman91 said:

langebleu said:

THAT'S MY GRANDMA, YOU BASTARDS!!!!

Anxiety said:

You're awesome.

langebleu said:

MOZART GROUPIES SAY:

"OMG TEH HOTNESS!"

langebleu said:

Definitely Purple Rain-era. Mozart's Lovesexy-era outfits were the bomb.