Oil on canvas. Signed and dated lower right. On the back is a period scroll with the title ‘Mozart and Aloysia, his first love’.
Aloysia Weber (1760 -1839), a well-known German soprano, was in her youth a pupil of Mozart (1756 -1791) who was slightly older than her and, according to rumour, the composer fell in love with her but without being reciprocated. Mozart composed a series of arias for the young lady he loved between 1778 and 1788 (Mozart's name appears on the score resting on the spinet), but he was never reciprocated and later married Constance, Aloysia's younger sister. The painting thus shows a moment in the singing lesson, with Mozart seated at the spinet correcting the girl standing with the score in her hand; as is the usual practice, his mother is in the room, supervising the lesson as she sews. The painting was offered at a Dorotheum auction in Salzburg in 2007. Restored and retouched, it is presented in an early 20th century gilded frame.
.png)
PLATINUM Seller in Milano, Italy
