Joseph Willibrord Mähler

{{short description|German painter (1778–1860)}}

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File:Beethoven18045JosephMähler.jpg, 1804/05]]

Joseph Willibrord Mähler (10 June 1778 – 20 June 1860) was a German painter.{{ÖBL|5|404|404|Mähler, Joseph Willibrord|Wacha}} {{in lang|de}} He was born in Koblenz-Ehrenbreitstein, the son of Franz Josef Mähler and Anna Johanna, née Vacano. He first served an apprenticeship in Dresden with Anton Graff to become a painter and later on, he continued with his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Mähler then decided to start a civil career, and he became an officer of the Secret Service Geheime Kabinettskanzlei (secret chancellery) in Vienna, while painting in his spare time.{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}

Mähler was introduced to Ludwig van Beethoven by Beethoven's school day friend Stephan von Breuning in the winter 1803/04. He painted his first portrait of Beethoven, which shows three quarters of the composer's body in an Arcadian landscape, holding a lyre-guitar in his hand. (Today, the painting is located in the Beethoven Memorial, the Pasqualati House in Vienna). In the 19th century, this illustration – one of just a few depictions of Beethoven when he was young – mainly became famous due to a lithograph by Josef Kriehuber.{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}

Around 1815, Mähler produced a series of portraits showing contemporary Viennese composers. As written in the Allgemeine Musikzeitung (General music journal) in August 1815, "all of them distinguish themselves in a most creditable way through the effectual brush stroke, the descriptive resemblance and the distinctive expression of their soul". A half-length portrait of Beethoven was part of the series. The painter created several versions of this portrait.[http://lewis-clark.org/content/content-article.asp?ArticleID=562 "Mähler's Beethoven"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140904074019/http://lewis-clark.org/content/content-article.asp?ArticleID=562 |date=2014-09-04 }}, lewis-clark.org[http://www.csudh.edu/oliver/beetport/beetport.htm "Portraits of Beethoven "] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205034840/http://www.csudh.edu/oliver/beetport/beetport.htm |date=2012-02-05 }}, California State University, Dominguez Hills He died, aged 82, in Vienna.