Portrait of Anna Przibram von Gladona-Gold

As one of Vienna's most successful painters of the 1870s and early 1880s, Makart enjoyed a lavish studio, which quickly became a focal point for Viennese high society. He would often paint aristocratic ladies in historical costumes. Typically, Makart would place the sitter in his atelier and surround her with an arrangement of objects as with a still-life. He would then personally choose the appropriate costume from his own plentiful stock, selecting the colours of the draperies, flower arrangements and the dress according to the hair colour of his sitter. He thus metamorphosed society ladies into creatures of his own imagination, into a sort of tableau vivant, which he then set out to capture in his work. The sitters would relish the opportunity to appear in fancy dress, reliving, in a playful way, the splendours of the past.

The present painting depicts Anna Cornelia Przibram, née Gold (1853-1924), wife of Ludwig Przibram von Gladona (1840-1916) and mother of Albin von Prybram-Gladona (see the previous lot), in half-length glancing to her right straight at the spectator. The beauty of the sitter, the delicately balanced palette employed and impeccable provenance combine to form an impressive work.