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    Clarinet Concerto in G minor Opus 29 (2) artwork
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    Beautiful art by great composers and musicians

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    Not content merely with creating beautiful music for us, some composers and performers were also talented visual artists. Here's a selection of the best - from Mendelssohn to Mozart.

    1. Mendelssohn watercolour Lake Lucerne

      1. Felix Mendelssohn: View of Lucerne

      From an early age, Felix Mendelssohn produced drawings, watercolours and oil paintings with great skill. Here he captures the tranquillity of Lake Lucerne in Switzerland, in 1847.

    2. Trees at Interlaken Felix Mendelssohn

      2. Felix Mendelssohn: Trees at Interlaken

      Mendelssohn was as good as many visual artists of his time. He produced more than 300 artworks. His landscapes and cityscapes demonstrate his formidable technique.

    3. George Gershwin painting

      3. A brush with George Gershwin

      George Gershwin's music made him fabulously wealthy, which allowed him to build a superb collection of modern art. After a few art lessons with his cousin, the painter Henry Botkin, Gershwin developed into quite an accomplished painter himself. His brother and lyricist Ira and their sister, Frances, also painted. Photo: PA

    4. Gershwin painting Schoenberg

      4. Gershwin paints Schoenberg

      Musically they were poles apart, but Gershwin and Arnold Schoenberg became friends when the arch-modernist arrived in Los Angeles in 1935 as an impoverished exile. Both men shared passions for painting and tennis. Gershwin was the better painter, but at tennis Schoenberg refused to yield a point, stomping off like John McEnroe, if challenged.

    5. Mozart embellished manuscript doodle

      5. Mozart: Portrait of Barbara Ployer

      This is a fine example of Mozart doodling on his music. It depicts his favourite pupil Barbara Ployer. He wrote his Piano Concerto No. 23 for her, and this is the only surviving portrait. Photo: Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

    6. Schoenberg painting Red Gaze Munchen

      6. Arnold Schoenberg: The Red Gaze

      Arnold Schoenberg had an enduring friendship with the pioneering abstract painter Wassily Kandinsky and they exchanged paintings with each other. They both believed art should express the subconscious. Schoenberg's stark expressionism is vividly seen in this portrait, possibly of himself, with its penetrating, red-eyed gaze.

    7. Luz Ingrid Fliter painting

      7. Ingrid Fliter: Light

      Composers aren't the only musicians who dabble with fine art. The contemporary Argentine pianist Ingrid Fliter is admired by audiences all over the world and has been particularly praised for her performances of Chopin. But when she discovered painting, she said it "unleashed a magical new world" for her. Picture: Ingrid Fliter

    8. Impromptu painting Stephen Hough

      8. Stephen Hough: Impromptu

      Is there anything Stephen Hough can't do? He's a pianist extraordinaire, a composer, professor, poet, newspaper columnist, blogger - and painter. No wonder 'The Economist' named him as one of 20 Living Polymaths. He even had a solo exhibition of paintings in London in 2012. Picture: Stephen Hough.

    9. Enrico Caruso self-portrait

      9. Enrico Caruso's selfie

      Not quite a master of fine art, but the greatest tenor of the early recording era, Caruso (1873-1921), was a talented caricaturist. Here's a cheeky, autographed self-portrait he scribbled for a fan in 1909. Picture: Schubertiade Music & Arts.

    10. Feodor Chaliapin Lawrence Tibbett

      10. Chaliapin draws Tibbett

      The great Russian bass, Feodor Chaliapin (1873-1938) was also celebrated for his drawing skills. Here is his sketch of the baritone Lawrence Tibbett (1896-1960), who made his debut at the Met in November 1923, alongside Chaliapin, whom Tibbett greatly admired. Picture: Schubertiade Music & Arts.

    11. Rolando Villazón Verdi Drawing

      11. Villazon draws Verdi

      The superstar Mexican tenor Rolando Villazón (1972-) is not only a great singer - he can knock out a great little cartoon too. Here's his version of the great Italian opera composer, Giuseppe Verdi.

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