Impressive early large-format portrait lithograph by Joseph Kriehuber, 1846, chine collé on heavy cardstock, published in Vienna by Ant. Diabelli, with the printed signature "F. Liszt" to the mount, signed and inscribed beside it in brown ink "à J. Bacher / affection dévoué / FrL / Juillet 46." A romantic impression of the dashing 35-year-old composer-pianist, shown with tousled hair and deep in thought, his head resting on one hand and the other draped across a pile of music manuscripts.  A few light creases and nicks to edges, light handling stains to corners, overall in very fine condition.  17.5 x 23.25 inches; 45 x 59.5 cm. 

Son of a Viennese banker, Dr. Joseph Bacher was an intimate and important supporter of many composers, including Meyerbeer and Berlioz, who wrote of him: "Dr Bacher is not a performing musician; he is one of those music-lovers such as only two or three are to be found in Europe. They undertake and sometimes bring to completion the most arduous enterprises, moved solely by the love of music; the purity of their taste lends genuine authority to their public pronouncements, and they often succeed in achieving through their own efforts what rulers ought to be doing themselves but fail to do. Dr Bacher is active, persistent, enterprising and generous beyond words, and in Vienna he is the staunchest supporter of music and a godsend for musicians."  

Liszt spent most of June and July, 1846 at the home of his friend Prince Felix Lichnowsky (1814-1848) in Grätz, Prussia. It was here where he must have signed the present portrait to Joseph Bacher, who was at the time the General Plenipotentiary and Garden Director for the Prince Lichnowsky.