Franz Klein (sculptor)

[2][3] Creating the mask involved spreading fluid plaster on the face; the first attempt failed, as Beethoven thought he might suffocate.

H. C. Robbins Landon has written that this life mask is "without any question, the most important documentary evidence of Beethoven's features."

From the life mask, Klein made a bust of Beethoven; the eyes, hair and clothes were added by the sculptor.

After Dietrich's death the life mask was acquired by the sculptor Kaspar von Zumbusch, who created a monument of Beethoven in Vienna (1873–1880).

was presented to the National Library of Australia by her nephew of and is part of Hungerford's manuscript collection of papers.