Photo of Mozart's widow found in town archives

Bounty · Post by **Bounty** » 2006-07-07 07:34am

A print of the only photograph of Mozart's widow, Constanze Weber, has been found in Germany.

The photograph was taken in 1840 in the Bavarian town of Altoetting when she was 78. She died two years later.

The local authorities say detailed examination has proved the authenticity of the image, which is a copy of the original daguerreotype.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died at the age of 36 in 1791, when Constanze was 29. She later married a Danish diplomat.

The print is one of the earliest examples of photography in Bavaria. It was found in the town archives.

The daguerreotype was taken at the home of the Swiss composer Max Keller, whom Constanze used to visit regularly.

Mozart and Constanze had six children in their nine-year marriage. Only two of them survived past childhood.

Daguerreotype photography

She's the one furthest left:

IRG CommandoJoe · Post by **IRG CommandoJoe** » 2006-07-07 10:48am

Too bad photograph technology wasn't developed earlier. She looked like she could have been attractive:

Lord Woodlouse · Post by **Lord Woodlouse** » 2006-07-07 10:51am

Maybe. The wonder of art was that one could adapt it a little.

IRG CommandoJoe · Post by **IRG CommandoJoe** » 2006-07-07 11:33am

That's why I said could have been attractive. I didn't say she was attractive.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2006-07-07 11:33pm

Damn it, IRG, I had to read both of your posts several times to actual get what the hell you were saying.

DesertFly · Post by **DesertFly** » 2006-07-08 12:11am

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Damn it, IRG, I had to read both of your posts several times to actual get what the hell you were saying.

Sounds like a personal problem. IRG, I had no problem reading both of your posts right away.

OT, that's an incredible find. Makes me wish that photography had been developed sometime earlier, so that we could get photos of the composers themselves. Sometime around the Rennaisance would have been perfect.

VT-16 · Post by **VT-16** » 2006-07-08 11:16am

Sometime around the Rennaisance would have been perfect.

Didn't Da Vinci and Co have some sort of pre-photography technique? I seem to recall a documentary on it. Something about a tower with a small hole in it and some water-mirror thingy and powder etc. :P

DesertFly · Post by **DesertFly** » 2006-07-08 06:03pm

VT-16 wrote:
Sometime around the Rennaisance would have been perfect.
Didn't Da Vinci and Co have some sort of pre-photography technique? I seem to recall a documentary on it. Something about a tower with a small hole in it and some water-mirror thingy and powder etc.

There was the camera obscura, a room sized device that worked the same way as modern (film) cameras, but there wasn't any way to record the image. It also wasn't very portable.