GUTTENBRUNN, Ludwig

(b. ~1750 Wien, d. 1819 Frankfurt)

Austrian portrait painter. He studied painting under Martin Johann Schmidt. By 1770 he was working for the Esterházy family, where he painted portraits of the reigning prince, Nikolaus (Miklós) Esterházy, and possibly the portrait of Joseph Haydn. He also created decorative paintings for Nikolaus’s new palace at Eszterháza.

By 1772 he had moved to Rome, where he had been sent to study by Prince Esterházy. He continued to work as a portrait painter, later moving to Florence, where he executed a self-portrait which hangs in the Uffizi Gallery.

In 1789 he moved to London. Shortly after arrival, or perhaps on the way, he produced the portrait of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France. In 1795, on the recommendation of the Russian envoy in London, he moved to St. Petersburg, then later to Moscow. His portrait of Alexej Kurakin dates from his stay in Russia.

He is known to have been in Dresden in 1806, then after 1807 back in Rome. Guttenbrunn’s last attested painting dates from 1813.

Marie Antoinette as Erato

Erato was one of the nine Muses, the ancient Greek goddesses of music, song and dance. In the Classical era, when the Muses were assigned specific literary and artistic spheres, Erato was named Muse of erotic poetry and mime, and represented with a lyre. Her name means lovely or beloved from the Greek word eratos.

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Portrait of Joseph Haydn

Guttenbrunn’s portrait of Haydn exists in two versions. It is possible that the first dates from his encounter with Haydn at the Esterh�zy court in the early 1770s, and the second from their encounter in London in the early 1790s. The second version is more detailed than the first, and was the basis for an engraving (1792) by Luigi Schiavonetti.

The portrait shows Haydn in the act of composing: he is seated at a keyboard, gazing into the distance, testing out notes with one hand and putting pen to paper with the other.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 5 minutes):

Joseph Haydn: Trumpet Concerto in E Flat (3rd movement)

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Portrait of Prince Alexei Kurakin

Prince Alexei Kurakin (1759-1829) was the governor of Ukraine.

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Venus with the Mirror

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