Fotoreproductie van een post-mortem getekend portret van Ludwig van Beethoven door Josef Danhauser 1880 - 1900

This is a photographic reproduction by Fr. Wendling of Josef Danhauser's post-mortem drawing of Ludwig van Beethoven. The drawing, small in scale, presents a delicate, almost ghostly image of the composer. The composition is strikingly simple; Beethoven’s head and shoulders are softly rendered, with the focus on his face and hair. Danhauser's original drawing, now captured through Wendling’s lens, offers a study in contrasts – the texture of Beethoven’s wild hair against the smooth fabric beneath his head. Wendling’s choice to reproduce the work accentuates a dialogue between art and reproduction, originality and the copy. The linear quality of the drawing invites us to consider not just the visual likeness of Beethoven, but the very act of memorialization. By framing the reproduction of Danhauser's drawing, Wendling is not only preserving an image but also prompting questions around the nature of authenticity.