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Secondary sourceSculpture1930

Bust of Ludwig van Beethoven by Frederic Storck

Frederic Storck · 1930

A bronze bust of Beethoven made in 1930, long after his death, showing one sculptor's idea of his face and character.

A 1930 bust imagining Beethoven's face, made long after his death as a tribute to his legacy.

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Photograph of a dark bronze-toned bust of a man with full wavy hair swept back, a furrowed brow, and a stern, closed-mouth expression, shown from the chest up against a pale grey background.
Frederic Storck, Bust of Ludwig van Beethoven, 1930. Bucharest Municipality Museum.

About this source

What it is

This is a dark bronze bust made in 1930 by the sculptor Frederic Storck. It shows a man with wavy, swept-back hair and a stern, concentrated expression. It is held today by the Bucharest Municipality Museum in Romania.

Why it matters

Beethoven died in 1827, so Storck never met him. The bust was made over a century later, based on earlier images of the composer. It shows how later artists kept imagining and reshaping Beethoven's appearance to match his reputation as a serious, intense genius.

Look closer

  • What mood does the sculptor give Beethoven's face, and how?
  • Since the sculptor never saw Beethoven in person, what might he have used as a model?
  • Why might artists keep making new portraits of someone long after they died?

This sculpture is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Ludwig van Beethoven on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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