‘The Quartett’ (A Rehearsal). Portrait of the Joachim Quartet seated around two duo music stands. Etching by Leopold Löwenstam after a painting by Lajos Ludwig Brück. Published November 8th 1888. Printed on fine tissue laid down.

Description

Portrait of the Joachim Quartet in rehearsal. Joseph Joachim and Louis Ries, violins, Ludwig Straus, viola, and Alfredo Piatti, cello. A note on the rear reads ‘Monday Pops Quartet’. Seated in a domestic interior of a grand house, in a drawing room or salon, the musicians are placed around two duo music stands, with the two violins opposite the two lower instruments, in preparation for a rehearsal of chamber music. Joachim points with his bow to the music, Ries is standing, Straus is tuning his instrument and Piatti is poised to play. Each musician is holding a bow.

The expensive furnishings and rug are complemented by grand curtains and a tapestry on the wall, on top of which hangs in a fictive frame, a portrait of Alfred Chappell. This is recorded as a note in the ‘Magazine of Music,’ June 1888, when the writer notes that ‘the portraits of the players are all excellent, as are their instruments.’ In the background is an upright piano and piano stool. Most of the upholstery has tapestry or needlework covers. Piatti wears slip-on shoes.

Etching by Leopold Löwenstam after a painting by Lajos Brück. London: Published November 8th 1888 by L.H. Lefevre, 1 King Street, St James’s SW. Copyright Registered. New York, M. Knoedler & Co. Printed on fine Japan paper laid down on card, and signed on the border in pencil by both the artist and etcher, with an artist’s palette, the latter perhaps etched into the border of the plate.

Image: 557 x 464 mm; Entire sheet: 723 x 556 mm.

Joseph Joachim: Mayer & Wilhelm, Stuttgart

Bronze plaque: 50,8 x 39 mm, 40,5 g., giving Joachim’s birth date as 15 July, 1831. The presently accepted date of Joachim’s birth is June 28, 1831 — the date on his gravestone. Joachim himself used both dates — first the July date and later the June date. There is no official record of Joachim’s birth, and it is possible that he was approximately a year older than either of these dates.