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Lot Essay
The present work relates to a series of preparatory drawings executed for Klimt's painting Bildnisse Frau Amalie Zuckerkandl of 1914-15 (N. and D. no. 213; fig. 1). Another example from the series, where the sitter is more fomerly posed than in the present work, today forms part of the collection in the Albertina, Vienna (A. S. no. 2484).
Amalie Zuckerkandl (1869-1942), née Schlesinger, was the second wife of the urologist Otto Zuckerkandl, brother of Viktor and Emil. Amalie and Otto Zuckerkandl's close relationship with Klimt was arranged by Amalie's sister-in-law, Berta (1864-1945), who had married Emil Zuckerkandl in 1886 and who had become an active collector of Klimt's work.
In her catalogue raisonné of the artist's drawings, Alice Strobl observed that there are two stylistically different groups of preliminary sketches. In the first group are those dating from 1914 when Klimt began to work on the portrait, which had been commissioned to him possibly as early as 1913. However, during the First World War Amalie followed her husband to Llov where she served as a nurse in his hospital between 1915-16. Klimt seems to have continued to work on the project after the Austrian loss to Llov, and the couple's return to Vienna.
Amalie Zuckerkandl (1869-1942), née Schlesinger, was the second wife of the urologist Otto Zuckerkandl, brother of Viktor and Emil. Amalie and Otto Zuckerkandl's close relationship with Klimt was arranged by Amalie's sister-in-law, Berta (1864-1945), who had married Emil Zuckerkandl in 1886 and who had become an active collector of Klimt's work.
In her catalogue raisonné of the artist's drawings, Alice Strobl observed that there are two stylistically different groups of preliminary sketches. In the first group are those dating from 1914 when Klimt began to work on the portrait, which had been commissioned to him possibly as early as 1913. However, during the First World War Amalie followed her husband to Llov where she served as a nurse in his hospital between 1915-16. Klimt seems to have continued to work on the project after the Austrian loss to Llov, and the couple's return to Vienna.