The golden cloak

Lenz studied with Gustav Klimt at the Kunstgewerbeschule, and in 1897 was a co-founder of the Vienna Secession. The Secessionists rejected formal academic teaching, seeking a modern approach to art that reflected the experimental and eclectic style of its members, who included a number of Symbolist artists. Lenz travelled in 1903 with Klimt to Italy, where both artists were deeply impressed by the decorative use of gold in the Byzantine mosaics they saw in Ravenna.