Gustav Klimt

Sale: S. Kende, Vienna, March 26, 27 and 29, 1920, lot 186 (as "design for the lunette in the Municipal Theater in Carlsbad")
Private Collection (acquired at the above sale)
Thence by descent

Alice Strobl, Gustav Klimt, Die Zeichnungen, Nachtrag 1878-1918, Salzburg, 1989, vol. IV, p. 18, no. 3187, illustrated 

Paper is loose and mounted with four corners to back mat. The demi-lune shape is cut and adhered to supporting paper with tape. The support paper on which it is signed is dirty and has minor tears along left edge and lower left corner.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

When Gustav Klimt made this watercolour, dated 1880-1881 by Alice Strobl, he was a student at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Vienna, aged eighteen or nineteen. This creation can be viewed in connection with other detailed allegorical drawings that the young artist produced for the esteemed publication Allegorien und Embleme - a highlight of central-european Historicism - edited by Martin Gerlach. In many respects, the present work foreshadows the artist’s ambitious allegory, The Realms of Nature (1882, Strobl, No. 47), a meticulous graphite drawing which also presents a symmetrical arrangement of three main figures, a broad podium and a simple outline in the form of a lunette. In both compositions, inspiration is taken from the Italian Renaissance – due to the influence of Ferdinand Laufberger, Klimt's teacher until 1881. The figure of Bacchus in the present work, for instance, refers to Michelangelo's igunudi in the Sistine Chapel and is subordinate to the central figure of Ceres. While in The Realms of Nature the male protagonist is intended as the embodiment of the highest species in nature, the element of flowering and growing is represented by his lesser companion, Flora.

Beside these observations, Allegory of Agriculture is exceptional as one of the earliest elaborate examples of Klimt's watercolor technique.