The Eyes Of Beethoven

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In this article we answer the most frequently asked questions about the eyes of Ludwig van Beethoven.

What was the color of Beethoven’s eyes? From recollections of those who met him, or the portrait paintings made of him, we know his eyes were brown. We also know he had deep brown eyes.

Was Beethoven blind? No, absolutely not! Poor Beethoven had many problems with his health, luckily, he was not blind!

Did Beethoven have glasses? Yes, in his old age he had eyeglasses. We also know, that after his passing away, Schindler stole them from his apartment– among many other important materials.

What was it like to look into Beethoven’s eyes? The most common and frequently used attribute by those who met him personally is that he had very lively, animated eyes. Other described them as very expressive or shiny. Many noted that they were rather small eyes and deep-set.

The account of Dr. Carl von Bursy describes him as “small, rather stocky, hair combed back with much gray in it, a rather red face, fiery eyes which, though small, were deep-set and unbelievably full of life.”

The painter Klöber remembers him saying, “His extremely lively eyes usually wandered, looking upwards somewhat darkly and low-spiritedly, which I have attempted to capture in the portrait.”

Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient, a soprano, recalled in a memoir the night, when – by then deaf – Beethoven took over the direction of a concert, “With a bewildered face and unearthly inspired eyes, waving his baton back and forth with violent motions, he stood in the midst of the performing musicians and didn’t hear a note!”