EGON SCHIELE | Erich Lederer, die Hände gefaltet (Erich Lederer with Hands Clasped)

August Lederer, Györ (the sitter’s father; acquired from the artist)
Private Collection (by descent from the above and sold: Sotheby’s, London, June 29, 1994, lot 184)
Private Collection, Europe (Acquired at the above sale)
Thence by descent

Christian Nebehay, Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele und die Familie Lederer, Bern, 1987, illustrated p. 111 (titled Erich Lederer and dated circa 1915-16)
Jane Kallir, Egon Schiele: The Complete Works, London, 1990, no. D1762, illustrated p. 553

Executed on cream wove paper. The sheet is hinged at upper left and upper right corners of its verso. The right edge is slightly deckled and the left and bottom edges is unevenly cut. There are minor creases throughout, most notably to the corners, top half of the left edge, upper right edge and toward the lower left corner. There are a few minor nicks and one quarter-inch tear to the right edge. There are artist pinholes toward all four corners. There are two pindots spots of foxing in the lower right quadrant but the sheet is very well-preserved overall. The work is in good condition.
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The subject of the present work is the fifteen-year-old Erich Lederer, son of the wealthy industrialist and art collectors August and Serena Lederer. Schiele had been introduced to the Lederer family by Gustav Klimt in 1912. They had long been important patrons of the elder artist, whose celebrated portrait of Serena now hangs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and Klimt was keen to draw Schiele into this circle. After first introductions, Schiele was invited to spend Christmas at the family’s Hungarian estate; in letters to his mother during this stay he recalls the Lederers’ amazement at his adroit draftsmanship and a commission to paint Erich’s portrait followed shortly after (see fig. 1). It was during the sittings for this painting that Schiele and Erich came to be friends. Erich was also artistic and would often bring his own crayons and paper to work as he sat for his portrait, as Schiele recalled in another letter: "the boy I am painting is 15 years old, with a long aristocratic face. He is a born painter, and draws also" (quoted in Alessandra Comini, Egon Schiele’s Portraits, Berkeley & London, 1974, p. 114).

Although Schiele never attempted another oil of Erich, he continued to draw him on occasion and the present work, executed some three years later, is testament to their enduring friendship. By comparison with the earlier drawings, in Erich Lederer, die Hände gefaltet the sitter has a new maturity, with Schiele deftly capturing a thoughtfulness and self-possession that is not apparent in his previous studies. The present work also reveals a new maturity on the part of the artist; with his characteristic acuity he renders his subject in just a few lines of pencil allowing detail to gather only in the face and hands. This emphasis on his sitter’s features—common in Schiele—and the downward gaze of Erich combine to create a sense of intimacy that speaks to the close relationship of the two young men.