Bourdelle leaning on a plaster of Beethoven in front of the Bust of Ingres

In his home town of Montauban, a very young Bourdelle came across a portrait of the composer Ludwig van Beethoven in a bookshop. In the image, he saw a reflection of his own high forehead, fiery eyes, and untamed hair. He soon identified, not only physically, but also artistically with the musician. This attraction stayed with him for a long time, as shown by this photograph, taken around 1908. While he was completing his Hercules the Archer, Bourdelle chose to pose for this photograph, facing a mirror with two of his works: his recent Bust of Ingres (1908) and, in the foreground, his Beethoven with Hand on Cheek (1888), one of the first pieces he created in his Beethoven corpus. Leaning on the composer's head as though on the shoulder of a friend, in this image Bourdelle composed a splendid triple self-portrait that betrays his certainty of belonging to the same community of men.

Colin Lemoine