The last moments of Mozart

Munkácsy, Mihály (1844-1900)


Item type:
painting
Date of creation:
1884-1885
Height:
264.0 cm  (103 15/16 in.)
Width:
381.0 cm  (150 in.)
Technique / Medium:
oil on canvas

    Item location

  • Detroit Institute of Arts
    [Museum inv. no.: 19.153]The painting is not on display and is not included in the online catalog of the DIA collections.

Description

Artist's notes: The man sitting at the harpsichord is Süssmayr, a friend and pupil of Mozart, the same who terminated [sic] the ‘Requiem’, which was left unfinished at Mozart’s death. Standing behind him are 3 singers, members of the Imperial Vienna Opera house. The one on the left in a suit of lilac silk is Hofer, singing the part of the tenor, next to him, taking the part of the bass is Gerl, clad in a black habit, and the third singer, in the background, singing the soprano voice, is Benedickt Schack, brother-in-law of Hofer. The Gentleman leaning over the harpsichord represents Roser, Mozart’s pupil and best friend. In the background are seen 2 other friends, Van Swieten and Schikaneder and also the doctor, who attended Mozart during his illness. The lady on the right is Mrs Mozart and the boy next to her, Mozart’s eldest son Charles.

People as subjects

Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus (1756-1791) (Composer)

Iconclass

48B26
artist on his deathbed

Instruments [MIMO Code] (notes)

Keyboard instruments [2230] (The harpsichord or fortepiano represents Mozart’s own which he used when he was composing. Munkácsy reportedly painted it from the original now in the Mozart Museum in Salzburg.)

Musical works

Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus -- Requiemillegible music notation

RIdIM images


Colored lithograph copy of the painting (private collection)

Image URLs

image link 1
Artist's oil sketch for the painting at the Magyar Nemzeti Galéria (Hungarian National Gallery).
image link 2
Colored lithograph copy of the painting at Bridgeman Images

Bibliographic references

Davison, Alan. "Painting for a Requiem: Mihály Munkácsy’s The last moments of Mozart (1885)", Early music 39/1 (February 2011) 79-92. RILM 2011-33902. DOI: 10.1093/em/caq112

Carlson, David Moris. "The last moments of Mozart by Mihály Munkácsy (1844–1900): Fact, fantasy and fate", Music and man 2/3–4 (1978) 285–96. RILM 1978-12186. DOI: 10.1080/01411897808574502

RIdIM record id

4277