LISZT FRANZ: (1811-1886) Hungarian composer and pianist of the Romantic period. A good, large ...

LISZT FRANZ: (1811-1886) Hungarian composer and pianist of the Romantic period. A good, large vintage signed and inscribed sepia 14.5 x 13 photograph (including card mount) of Liszt seated in a full-length pose at his desk within his study at Weimar, surrounded by various tables and chairs and with a piano visible to the left of the image. Photograph by Louis Held of Weimar (1884) and bearing his blindstamp to the lower right corner of the image. Signed and inscribed by Liszt in fountain pen ink to the lower photographer´s mount, in German, ´Meinem liebster "Badedecker" (Frau Carrie Lachmund) herzlich ergebend, F Liszt´ (Translation; ´Sincerely yielding to my dearest ‘Badedecker’ (Mrs Carrie Lachmund), F Liszt ´) and dated at Weimar, July 1884, in his hand. Matted in cream with a decorative gold edge and framed and glazed to an overall size of 21.5 x 19.5. Signed photographs of Liszt of this size are scarce, and the present example has a good association. The signature is a touch light, although remains legible. Some light staining and minor age wear, about VG

Louis Held (1851-1927) German photographer and a pioneer of photojournalism. Held opened his first studio in Liegnitz in 1876 and six years later located himself in Weimar where he became a protege of Liszt and was appointed court photographer to Carl Alexander, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach in 1888.

Caroline ´Carrie´ Lachmund (1854-1889) was a harpist and the first wife of Carl Lachmund (1853-1928) American pianist who studied under Liszt at Weimar from 1882-84.