For language practise I like to read online newspapers in French, German and Spanish (gee Dave, sounds like fun, yawn). Those who can read German might enjoy this article about a Mozart portrait from 1790 which was recently discovered in Berlin (I have translated the headlines). It is now believed to be the last portait of Mozart, painted only a year before his death.
Die Welt, Berlin: Der dicke Bub von der Isar(The Plump Lad of the Isar [Isar = river in Austria and Germany, a tributary of the Danube])
Freitag, 7. Januar 2005
Es gibt weltweit nur wenige Mozart-Porträts. Jetzt ist ein neues aufgetaucht. Was erzählt es?
(There are only few Mozart portraits in the world. Now a new one has emerged. What is the story?)
http://www.welt.de/data/2005/01/07/384493.html?search=Gem%E4ldegalerie&searchHILI=1
Here is a shorter article in English from the BBC web site.
BBC News: Gallery discovers Mozart portraitFriday, 7 January, 2005
The portrait's subject was previously unknown
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4154043.stmArt experts in Germany say a painting in a Berlin art gallery is probably the last portrait painted of the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
The picture was painted by the German artist Johann Georg Edlinger in 1790, a year before Mozart's death.
The picture was identified as a Mozart portrait when an expert on the composer used computer analysis to compare it with another painted 13 years earlier.
The Gemaeldegalerie [Gemäldegalerie] says it will go on show on 27 January - Mozart's birthday.
The oil painting, measuring 80cm by 62cm (31.5 inches by 24.5 inches) was acquired by the gallery in 1934 and was only recently restored.
It had been purchased from a Munich art dealer, as a portrait of an unknown subject.
The senior custodian of the art gallery, Dr Rainer Michaelis, recently commissioned extensive computer analysis of the painting and asked Mozart expert Wolfgang Seiller to investigate.
"Mr Seiller noticed there were strong similarities between the subject of the portrait and Mozart," he told Berlin's BZ newspaper.
It is thought the portrait was painted during Mozart's last stay in Munich in 1790. He died of a mysterious illness in 1791 aged 35.
Dave
