Joseph Karl Stieler (1 November 1781 – 9 April 1858) was a German painter who worked mainly in the service of the Bavarian court.

Between February and April 1820, Karl Steiler worked on his portrait of Beethoven, probably the most well-known representation of the composer today. The painting is owned by the Beethoven-Haus Bonn Museum in Germany which holds the largest Beethoven collection in the world.

Text used under license from Wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Van_Beethoven .
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Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven (17 December 1770 – 26 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He was a crucial figure in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western classical music, and remains one of the most acclaimed and influential composers of all time. He continued to compose, conduct, and perform, even after becoming completely deaf.

“Music is the mediator between the spiritual and sensual life” derives from an attributed quote to Beethoven by Elizabeth Brentano in a May 28th, 1810 letter to Goethe describing her meeting with Beethoven in which she professes Beethoven made the following remark:

"Music, verily, is the mediator between intellectual and sensuous life."

(ibid Beethoven His Spiritual Development, JWN Sullivan, 1927)

Text used under license from Wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_Beatrice_Longman .
Work released under CC-BY-SA http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0