If you want to know what Mozart looked like take a look at the painting by Joseph Lange, Mozart's brother in law. To say until now we didn't know what he looked like is ludicrous.

Aigen, Salzburg, Austria

This is a fascinating discovery--whether or not our fossil-fueled industrial society is rapidly coming apart.
At least we can see what this genius composer looked like.
And how can any portrait exactly resemble its subject? Just study contemporary portraits --how true-to-life are they?
Perhaps, however, the nose is exact--and what a nose!
My ancestry is one-half Austrian, and my brother has a nose nearly like Mozart's. My mother calls it the "Widmar" nose.
Maybe there are a lot of people with this nose in Austria and thereabouts. :) And it looks like his eyes are brown.

Jeannie, Michigan, USA

This is the latest effort by certain people to cash in on a portrait claimed to be Mozart. Everyone should note that the Mozarteum, the main organization which supports research in the field of Mozart and houses the manuscripts, does not subscribe to the Cliff Eisen claim and disavows that this is an authentic portrait of Mozart. The press will pick up any story and carry it as if it is the truth because this sells papers. While Cliff Eisen is a respected Mozart scholar, there are dozens of other Mozart scholars who do not agree that this portrait is Mozart. It is ludicrous to think that Leopold Mozart, a man who exerted every ounce of his being to keep and retain all relics of his son, would have left anything in Hagenauer's attic. Nannerl, Mozart's sister, never referenced the painting to the painter Barbara Krafft, who gave the world the last painting of Mozart decades after his death and who examined the known portraits of Mozart in an effort to achieve a good likeness.

jacqueline s., branchburg , new jersey

Cliff Eisen is a respected Mozart scholar, but based on the known life portraits of Mozart, I have a hard time buying this (and not just because I don't have 2 million quid). It's not only the strong chin--the face is a different shape: the distance between the eyes and the mouth in this picture is greater than that shown in the Lange portrait, the Stock silverpoint caricature, the Posch cameo or the Loschenkohl silhouette, as well as the recently postulated Edlinger portrait. Without seeing the actual picture, I cannot tell, but there doesn't seem to be any hint of smallpox scarring either, although painters could leave such unflattering details out (just as they could beef up chins). And surely Mozart's wasn't the only red coat in Vienna. Here in Canada we have a whole police force wearing them.

Jeffrey Wall, London, Canada

Fascinating. Apparently Mozart looked like Brent Spiner, who played the android Data on _Star Trek: the Next Generation_.

L. Neil Smith, Fort Collins, Colorado / USA

The portrait looks very much like the Della Croce portrait and also like the Krafft.It is undoubtedly the finest Mozart image yet.
The unfinished portrait of Mozart that Joseph Lange painted does show a slightly different tone and jaw, however Lange was not a skilled artist and Constanza's attestation that the Lange was the most accurate is challenged by Nannerl Mozart's assertion that the Krafft was the closest in exactness to Mozarts visage.
Leopold Mozart, it is noted, declared the Della Croce to be the closest.
This painting clearly seems to be the finest Mozart portrait ever authenticated.

Sharon, London, U.K

Thank you for this wonderful story! The discovery of this portrait is spectacular news for Mozart lovers everywhere. My husband and I recently visited the Mozart House in Vienna and were quite disappointed at the lack of authentic Mozart artifacts there. Perhaps the owner of this fantastic painting might consider donating it to the Mozart House so that the whole world might enjoy it.

R.J. Mullins, Boston, CA, USA

It's nice to know that Wolfgang looked like a young, middle-class Austrian artist of the late 18th Century. A rather egocentric individual. The only important thing about him (and he'd probably agree wholeheartedly) was his music.
The Buddha? He undoubtedly looked like any number of northern Indian aristocrats of his era, right down to the long straight hair and manicured nails.
Jesus? Jewish aristocrat (doesn't ANYBODY ever read Matthew these days?) family, which in those days meant he may even have had a bit of Greek ancestry. Probably looked a bit like Buddha, truth be known.

James A F Compton, La Mesa, USA / California

Very exciting. However, it has a totally different chin and character than the unfinished portrait that Constanze had said was the closest of all portraits that she had seen.

Gene, Denver, USA

I know first hand the exuberance that is being felt, as I remember the moment I finally learned what Darth Vader looked like.

Howard, Colorado Springs,

"Peaceful, hippy-looking white dood with the long hair and lonely stare? I don't think so."

Dunno about the lonely stare (quite possible, though), but he was olive-skinned and had a rastafarian hairdo, apparently.

starling, Lancaster,

Quite often, J Persico, seeing as history is made every moment of the day.

Augustus Blainwraithe, Salisbury, UK

Honestly, what does it matter, the world is coming apart faster than a cheap suit and some of us are lying awake at night wonder what some dead Austrian composer looked like? Aughhhhh!

jim, corbett, oregon

no one knows if jesus (as in the christ) actally existed.

rudy, london,

Hello, aren't we missing Jesus in this list of unknown mugs?

Peaceful, hippy-looking white dood with the long hair and lonely stare? I don't think so.

Babel Boy, Vancouver, Canada

Does anyone know what Gautama, the Buddha looked like? There are several schools of sculptors and painters, who have tried to show that, but no one can tell for certain.

Mark Jones, Lawrence, Kansas

My husband and I were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to view and actually hold some of these pieces in our hands recently when they were in the possession of a friend of the collector. As with any "antiquities" there is always the chance that they will be ruled to be a misrepresentation. We are thrilled that this is not the case with the Mozart pieces. How often does one hold history in the palm of his/her hand?

J. Persico, Pleasanton, CA