A painting originally by Ernst Klimt, which was then reworked by the famous Viennese Secessionist Gustav Klimt after his brother’s unexpected death at 29 years old, sold for £2.2 million ($2.8 million) at Sotheby’s Old Master & 19th Century Evening Auction in London last night, December 4.
The third of seven Klimt children, Ernst Klimt was born in 1864 in Vienna, two years before his brother Gustav. The brothers studied together at Vienna’s University of Applied Arts, which Ernst joined at age 13. The pair went into business together with their friend Franz Matsch, creating the “Künstler-Compagnie,” which opened its studio in 1883, creating commissioned paintings for theaters, including a version of the work sold last night at Sotheby’s.
Hanswurst Delivering an Impromptu Performance in Rothenburg (1886–8) was an iteration of a decorative panel Ernst had created to adorn the ceiling above the grand staircase of Austria’s national theatre, the Burgtheater, with the easel version begun in 1892. Ernst died later that year from a heart illness, and his grieving brother (also grieving their gold engraver father, who was also called Ernst and had died earlier that year) completed the work. It is one of the few paintings Gustav produced during this upsetting period while the artist financially supported Ernst’s widow and young daughter.
Gustav Klimt and Ernst Klimt, Hanswurst Delivering an Impromptu Performance in Rothenburg (1886–1888). Image courtesy of Sotheby’s.
Klimt’s sister Hermine wrote that Gustav would “despair” while trying to finish what his younger brother had started: “And so, he [Gustav] had to complete the painting which Ernst had left unfinished. As often as he tried to get started, he simply couldn’t and despaired. When he got home, he would say ‘I can’t finish it!’ But at last, with a great deal of willpower, he succeeded.”
Gustav signed the work “Ernst Klimt” and added portraits of their mother, sisters, and surviving brother to the busy group scene of the German stock comedic character Hanswurst entertaining an audience in a market square. It was exhibited and sold under Ernst’s name in 1895.
A six-way bidding battle ensued for the painting. The last time the painting had come to auction was 40 years ago when it sold for £140,000 ($178,140). Last night’s low estimate of £300,000 ($381,727) was already more than double this previous result, but in the end, the painting sold for 16 times what it did in 1984.
Sandro Botticelli, The Virgin and Child Enthroned (c. 1470). Photo by Tristan Fewings / Getty Images for Sotheby’s.
Claude Piening, Sotheby’s senior international specialist for 19th Century European Paintings, said that the “work is both incredibly touching as well as utterly unique: we also don’t know of any other times that this has happened, and so it is a record of a pivotal moment in Klimt’s life as a loyal brother.” He added that the painting “is also super impressive in quality, with an almost photographic quality to the detail. Works from this period are extremely rare, let alone when accounting for the collaborative element, and so we were thrilled to see it find a new home this evening.”
Piening told Artnet News that “the subject and quality, and of course the Klimt name, all had their part to play” in the success of the sale, as did “the very personal story that the picture had to tell, of one brother honoring the other and their wider family, which really touched a chord with many who viewed and bid on this exceptional and unique work.”
The Evening Auction reached a total of £24.1 million ($30.5 million), doubling its low estimate of £13.3 million ($17 million), with almost 60 percent of lots exceeding their high-estimates and six artworks selling for over £1 million ($1.2 million). The headline moment of last night’s Sotheby’s sale, though, was surely the £9.9 million ($12.6 million) achieved for Sandro Botticelli’s The Virgin and Child Enthroned (ca. 1470) which broke the record for the highest price achieved for an early work by Botticelli.