COEUR d’ALENE – The wild hairstyle, the famous scowl, the furrowed brow and even the slight folds in the waistcoat into which the ruffled tie is tucked are captured in an alabaster bust of Ludwig van Beethoven.
The 2-foot-tall statue, recently donated to the Coeur d’Alene Conservatory of Music, is as mysterious as it is detailed.
“We don’t yet know when it was actually carved,” Kent Kimball, artistic director of the Music Conservatory of Coeur d’Alene, said Monday. “They think it might be 150 years old, but it might be 200 years old. It might be 224 years old.”
The bust of the famous German composer and pianist was a gift from Coeur d’Alene resident John Lloyd, a descendant of the Cheney family who made a fortune with their silk industry empire in the 19th and 20th centuries.
“The Cheney family was an extremely wealthy Gilded Age family that owned textile mills all along the East Coast, and a lot of them,” Kimball said.
The family owned dozens of historic mansions as well as 245 houses that served as housing for the workers of the Cheney Brothers Silk Company in the factory town.
“It was a great idea that lasted about 100 years,” Kimball said. “Big, big, big companies did it.”
Kimball met Lloyd during Art on the Green as Lloyd approached the Conservatory of Music booth.
“He came out of nowhere and piqued my interest with one sentence: ‘Would you be interested in receiving a 2-foot-tall alabaster statue of Ludwig von Beethoven?’ How do you answer a question like that? ‘Oh no, I need to talk to people,'” he said, laughing. “They say, ‘Hey, let’s talk, send me a picture.’ It was fascinating. Mystery and intrigue.”
The very next day, Lloyd sent photos of the bust and historical information about the Cheney family, who most likely displayed the statue in one of their many old mansions.
Lloyd presented the bust to the Conservatory on August 9. The statue bears no initials of the artist or any other indication of who created it, and certainly no stamp saying “Made in China.” It has no dust or dirt in its crevices, and it has not yellowed with time. The only inscription is the word “Beethoven” in capital letters on the base above the pedestal.
“There are no chips, cuts or damage to the thing,” he said. “It kind of gives me the impression that the people who owned it and displayed it treated it with a certain level of reverence and appreciation.”
Kimball said he has no experience as a sculptor, but he appreciates a beautiful piece of art like this bust.
“It certainly fits in with our beautiful 1908 building,” he said.
Beethoven lived from 1770 to 1827 and is often immortalized artistically in his later years. This particular work shows a younger Beethoven, around 30 or 35 years old.
“As he got older, he became darker and angrier,” Kimball said. “He was always angry and difficult. He wasn’t a particularly warm and welcoming person, and he’s not the only composer who was like that.”
The statue is currently being appraised by the famous New York auction house Sotheby’s. Kimball said he and his colleagues at the conservatory had no idea of the bust’s value.
“There are some great works of art that, frankly, aren’t worth that much,” Kimball said.
The Music Conservatory of Coeur d’Alene, 627 Government Way, invites you to the first meeting of the Friends of the Music Conservatory on Wednesday from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. to treat donors and supporters to an evening of music and refreshments while sharing plans for the next phase of the conservatory.
Information: cdaconservatory.org
Kent Kimball holds a bust of Ludwig von Beethoven on Monday that was recently donated to the Coeur d’Alene Conservatory of Music. Who carved the alabaster statue is a mystery, as is its exact age, although it could be about 224 years old.
A 2-foot-tall statue of famed German composer and musician Ludwig von Beethoven, recently donated to the Coeur d’Alene Conservatory of Music, is as mysterious as it is detailed, as seen in the photo displayed Monday.
