123-Year-Old Stunning Beethoven Portrait By Steichen Discovered on Long Island

Rare and powerful paintings of monumental proportions depicting some of the most iconic people in history aren't something you see every day, and a discovery of this magnitude is priceless. Such is the case when a notable moment arises at the intersection of music, art, and modern culture, joining the legacies of two of history’s most influential creative minds. The result is breathtaking.

A 1902 painting by the 20th-century Luxembourg-born American and world-renowned painter-turned-fashion photographer, Edward Steichen, depicts the great German composer and pianist, Ludwig Van Beethoven, in a mysterious, deep gaze that you can't take your eyes off of. This gorgeous painting of a "moody" Beethoven was done 75 years after the composer's death in 1827, crafted from Steichen's young 23-year-old mind, demonstrating the power of a stern-looking yet massively talented historical composer. Discovered in a basement at the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception (the former site of the Conklin Estate) in Huntington a few years ago, the 123-year-old, astonishing portrait had been stored there for decades, surviving several burning circumstances and not seen by the public for nearly a century. Now, finally, the painting sits safely in the trusted possession of Mr. Michael DiRuggiero, the Manhattan rare book dealer, collector and owner of Manhattan Rare Book Company in midtown Manhattan on Vanderbilt Avenue.

Mr. DiRuggiero, who brought the incredible painting back to light, is looking to sell it for $1.3 million, with a portion reserved for philanthropy to The Juilliard School to help nurture the next generation of artists. It is undetermined where the other portion will go at this point. DiRuggiero is highly-respected in New York, working with so many rare books, manuscripts, art and signed photography within the fields of entertainment, sports, politics and more. But among all the pieces currently in Mr. DiRuggiero's care, Steichen's Beethoven portrait holds a special place in his heart.

"I actually fell in love with it (the painting)," said DiRuggiero. "I find it so fascinating because I know a lot about the period of early 20th-century Steichen. I appreciate it because I'm really into camera work and the origins of photography. Steichen intersected with his early paintings, and later he loved photography because he once called paintings, "wallpaper", like you have something, one thing for somebody's house, and that's it, as opposed to (photography being) a more mass-produced medium. He brought this moodiness to photography, and he partly burned his paintings because he really believed in photography as an art form."

Mr. DiRuggiero also said that another reason the artist and gallerist Steichen burned his paintings was his time serving in World War I, not as a soldier, but in charge of the surveillance photographer division, a key element in the early use of photography during the war effort.

The Beethoven painting was twice spared from destruction, first when Steichen famously burned nearly all his paintings in 1923, and then again decades later when it was removed from an abandoned mansion shortly before a fire destroyed the building. Even with all of the attempts to burn such gorgeous art, Steichen called this portrait his favorite. It is believed to be the most significant of his surviving early works, and what DiRuggiero calls a literal bridge between his painting and his modernist photography, reshaping the 20th century. The canvas is believed to be the most important Steichen painting in private hands, one that miraculously survived two near-fire destructions. So how did this midtown Manhattan collector and book dealer achieve possession of this masterpiece in 2021?

According to Michael DiRuggiero, when Steichen went off to World War I as a surveillance photographer, where the military used it for espionage purposes, looking at battle plans and aerial views to help the war effort, he entrusted in care to American financier and real estate mogul Roland R. Conklin, just before Edward Steichen entered military service in 1917. Later, when the Conklin Estate was sold to the Archdiocese of New York later becoming the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception on West Neck Road in Lloyd Harbor, the great painting remained on the seminary property. Mr. Conklin was Steichen's chief benefactor, and then the artist ultimately became part of the Conklin estate. Following World War I, Steichen had already been considered one of the most influential photographers of the 20th century and served as chief photographer for Vogue and Vanity Fair and, later, as Director of Photography at The Museum of Modern Art. When Conklin died in 1938, the estate became part of the Seminary and that's how the painting remained at the seminary, surviving a second fire in the 1990s. Mr. DiRuggiero had been with the Manhattan Art Antique Center and had a gallery for 20 years, until one day, when someone working with the seminary brought it to the Center.

“This work is the missing link between Steichen’s painting and the photographic modernism he would go on to shape,” said DiRuggiero. “It’s an extraordinary work of art with a fascinating backstory, rescued twice, largely hidden for generations, and now reemerging, striking a conversation about Steichen’s early work and the birth of modernism.”