A lost portrait of Prince William Nii Nortey Dovuona, created by Gustav Klimt in 1897, was shown for the first time in almost a century at the TEFAF art fair in the Netherlands.
A portrait of Prince William Nii Nortey Dovuona, painted by Gustav Klimt in 1897, was shown for the first time at the TEFAF art fair in Maastricht.
The painting, which disappeared almost a century ago, has seen the light again and is now estimated at €15 million, writes CNN.
Two collectors transferred the painting to the Wienerroither & Kohlbacher gallery in Vienna. The canvas was heavily soiled, and Klimt’s signature was barely visible. Renowned art historian Alfred Weidinger, who has been looking for this work for two decades, confirmed its authenticity.
The portrait depicts Prince William Nia Nortei Dovuona, a member of the Ga people of modern Ghana. It is painted in an early Art Nouveau style and is decorated with floral motifs. The painting symbolizes Klimt’s transition to a decorative style, Weidinger notes.
The work was created in 1897 during the so-called Völkerschau (Human Zoo), a show that showcased representatives of different peoples in Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1923, the portrait was sold at auction and later transferred to an exhibition in Klimt’s studio, which was converted into a villa. The owners of the painting, a Jewish couple, Ernestine and Felix Klein, fled Austria in 1938 on the eve of World War II. The whereabouts of the painting in the following decades remained a mystery.
Gustav Klimt is one of the most famous Austrian artists, a representative of the Art Nouveau style and the founder of the Vienna Secession. His painting The Kiss is one of the most recognizable works of art in the world.
It was previously reported that the Netherlands had discovered the painting Woman with Coal by Pieter Bruegel the Younger, which was stolen 50 years ago and disappeared from the museum in Gdansk in 1974.
