ABSTRACT
Just as the generalised descriptions of the pace and type of movement earlier in the period (as embodied in headings, titles and dynamic indications) gave way to more emotionalised directions, and so on, so these in turn began to show a greater degree of more specific humanisation and even personification. One of the clearest illustrations of this trend in the period is, not surprisingly, portrait-painting and the manner in which the more faithful rendering of the features and traits of the sitter gradually takes precedence over the conventional 'staging' or a more-or-less idealised image – the sitter as they would wish to be seen. The famous watercolour portrait by Louis Carrogis de Carmontelle of the Mozart family (Leopold Mozart and his children, c.1763, see Pl. 36) shows a relative stiffness in spite of the fact that the subjects are absorbed in music: little Wolfgang, sitting bolt upright at the clavier in almost aristocratic garb (complete with sword), and sister Nannerl, equally formal. In fact it is only Leopold who shows any hint of ease, with his relaxed pose and crossed legs. The nonchalance is, however, diminished in the setting, with the calf of Leopold's right leg being echoed in the gently curved legs of the stool and of the harpsichord, which latter's curvature is subtly neutralised by the opposing curve of the stool; the strong verticals and horizontals also dwarf any hint of ease, and the diagonal of the violin is transmuted into downward motion by being transferred through to Wolfgang's upright back, as well as being opposed by the music-stand's diagonal. Similarly, Nannerl is denied any real feminisation, as her dress is hidden by the harpsichord and the trees above her are insufficient to do anything very much to soften the pillar's verticality, of which she partakes: she is somewhat marginalised, and it is clear that it is the little Wunderkind who gets the limelight. Indeed, there is very much the feeling of a stage-set about the painting. The stiffness is the more telling since it is children, for the most part, who are being portrayed here, and this same quality is also evident in another portrait of Nannerl (c.1763, probably by Pietro Antonio Lorenzo) in the Mozart Museum in Salzburg and (albeit to a lesser extent) in a later portrait of the family c.1780 by Johann Nepomuk della Croce (see Pl. 37).
