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November 28, 2019Record world auction for a portrait of Wolgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) performed by the Veronese painter Giambettino Cignaroli (1706-1770). One of the rare paintings executed during the life of the Austrian composer, who portrays him at the age of 13, during a stay in Italy, in Verona, was beaten last night by Christie's in Paris for the extraordinary sum of 4,031,500 euros , five times the initial estimate. Starting from 800 thousand euros, the portrait was at the center of a heated upward race between three collectors connected with the auction house via telephone. The portrait, attributed to Cignaroli and dated to January 1770, a few months before the death of the painter, which took place the following 1 December, was painted following the enormous success of an organ concert held by the composer and pianist prodigy in Verona in that year.

The painting immortalizes the brilliant Salzburg teenager posing for Cignaroli while hinting at a half smile in front of a harpsichord on which he rests his magical fingers, dressed in a bright red coat and with a white wig, it is as if he were posing for the painter . On the harpsichord is the score of a composition, which has long been the subject of numerous attempts to decipher. Some musicologists suggest that it is a work of the Venetian musician Baldassare Galuppi, others argue that it would be a composition by Mozart himself that had been lost.

the portrait of Mozart was part of the private collection of the great Swiss pianist Alfred Cortot (1877-1962). Rediscovered in 1865 by Leopold von Sonnleithner, great patron of Beethoven and Schubert, the painting was exhibited at Carnavalet and Salzburg on the occasion of exhibitions thanks to Cortot's patronage. Before being awarded the auction last night in Paris, the painting made an international tour promoted by Christie's in the US, Asia, Europe, Austria included.