Lot 100

Private collection, Germany
Thence by descent

In 1904 Ferdinand Schmutzer completed one of his most remarkable and sizeable works, Joachim Quartett. At the time of its creation the etching was regarded to be one of the largest in existence, an innovation in the field of etching. The subject, Joseph Joachim, was the honorary president of the Beethoven-Haus Bonn Association and created the most comprehensive Beethoven exhibition to date. At the time, many of Beethoven's late musical works were still not widely performed, even after his death. It wasn't until 1903 that the Joachim Quartet performed all of the Beethoven String Quartets in a complete cycle.

Other impressions of this print are held in the permanent collections of the British Museum, London; and National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo.