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Primary sourcePaintingc. 1780-1781

Portrait of the Mozart Family

Johann Nepomuk della Croce · c. 1780-1781

A family portrait showing Wolfgang and his sister Nannerl at the piano and their father Leopold with his violin, with their late mother shown in a framed picture.

Shows Mozart as a young man at the piano with his sister and father, in a portrait his sister called his truest likeness.

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Oil painting of a family group: a young woman with a tall powdered hairstyle and pink ribbon plays a harpsichord beside a young man in a red coat. An older man in black stands at right holding a violin. An oval portrait of an older woman in a blue headscarf hangs above, and a classical statue sits in a niche at right.
Johann Nepomuk della Croce (attributed), Portrait of the Mozart Family, c. 1780-1781. Tanzmeisterhaus, Salzburg.

About this source

What it is

An oil painting traditionally attributed to Johann Nepomuk della Croce, made between late 1780 and early 1781. It shows Wolfgang and his sister Maria Anna ('Nannerl') playing piano together, their father Leopold holding a violin, and a framed portrait of their mother Anna Maria, who had died in 1778. It is kept at the Tanzmeisterhaus museum in Salzburg.

Why it matters

Letters between Wolfgang and Leopold describe the sittings for this portrait, showing how carefully the family arranged to be remembered together, even including their deceased mother. Nannerl later called it the best likeness of her brother she knew, and it later inspired other artists' depictions of Mozart.

Look closer

  • Why might the family have chosen to include a portrait of their mother rather than leave her out?
  • What does the choice of instruments tell you about each family member's role in the household?
  • How might a commissioned family portrait differ from a casual, unposed image?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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