Fotoreproductie van een getekend portret Ludwig van Beethoven 1870 - 1900

This is a photographic reproduction of Ludwig van Beethoven’s portrait, made by Gustav Schauer in the 19th century. The unruly hair, or the "μανία" as the Greeks would call it, framing Beethoven's face, speaks volumes. It's a symbol of untamed genius, the kind that we also find in depictions of ancient philosophers and prophets. Consider the bacchantes, the female followers of Bacchus, their hair similarly disheveled as they surrendered to divine ecstasy. Even in the Renaissance, artists like Michelangelo captured this frenzied state in their depictions of prophets and sibyls. The wild hair becomes a visual shorthand for inspiration, a state where the boundaries between the earthly and the divine blur. It's a motif that persists, reinvented across time, each iteration echoing the primal human quest to capture and understand creative inspiration. It seems that the subconscious never forgets, as these symbols find new life in the hands of artists.