Apparently, there are not any photos of Beethoven, only a couple of famous paintings and sculptures, However, he did leave behind two plaster casts taken directly from his face. One was a death mask which I found very scary looking and another was a "life-cast" taken by a famous Viennese sculptor who is said to have made the most accurate likeness of him in a statue. (of course, they haven't seen mine yet) If you go to Bonn, Germany and visit the Beethoven house, you will see this statue. This is where the life mask that I used is from. When I got the mask to my studio, I put it on a modeling stand and used it as my subject where I sculpted this statue of him from clay. To read more about the "Making of Beethoven" follow this link.

Note: what appears to be a cleft chin is really scars as Beethoven suffered from smallpox. Based on my research, Beethoven would have been about 42 years old at the time of this life mask.

I know there has been other Beethoven statues made, but because he has been such a big idol of mine throughout most of my life, I took on the challenge. Besides, there isn't a Beethoven composition I don't like except for maybe his second symphony. Music stars come and go, but did you know that there are over 10,000 different recordings of Beethoven's work? What popular star today can say that?

For more info on this project and how you can have a "Commissioned Work" done of yourself or a loved one, click here

T. J. Hogan