Alberto Müller, the husband of the sitter.
The sitter was the wife of Alberto Müller, a younger brother of the artist, and proprietor of the Grand Hotel Bellevue in Andermatt (demolished 1986). The Hotel had been built by the Christen family, kinsmen of the Müllers, but was bought from them by Genovefa Müller-Lombardi around the end of the nineteenth century. The picture was apparently painted shortly after the sitter’s marriage on 29 October 1904.
The picture may have been originally larger than it is presently since the paint surface has been turned over the stretcher, but this may have been done by the artist himself. It was suggested by the artist’s nephew, the late Adolf Müller, that the sitter’s head was painted over the portrait of another lady, but this is not evident with the naked eye (as it is with the portrait of Adelina Gähler-Müller painted over Mrs William King).
