A painting by the Austrian artist Gustav Klimt, considered lost for 100 years, was sold at auction in Vienna for 30 million euros, The Guardian reports.
The unfinished painting, entitled "Portrait of Fräulein Lieser," was painted in the spring of 1917, a year before the artist's death.
Until the Viennese auction house im Kinsky announced at a press conference in January that the portrait had been rediscovered in a private collection, the painting was known only from a black-and-white photograph.
The sudden appearance of this artwork, coupled with the intriguing backstory, created a lot of excitement around the painting. In the run-up to the auction, approximately 15,000 visitors took the opportunity to view the works on display at im Kinsky.
It is believed to be a commissioned portrait of one of the daughters of Adolf or Justus Lizer. Some art historians have identified the sitter as Margaret Constance Lieser, daughter of Adolph Lieser. However, im Kinsky has suggested that the painting may also depict one of the two daughters of Justus Lizer and his wife, Henrietta.
The identity of the sitter is crucial. After Klimt's death in 1918, the painting ended up in the hands of the Lieser family, although which branch of the dynasty could rightfully lay claim to ownership of the painting is difficult to establish. Art historians have struggled to piece together the painting's journey between 1925 and 1961. The foresaid auction house said the painting's journey through the Nazi period was "unclear."
The identities of the last Austrian owners have not been disclosed.
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