Akt eines Greises mit vorgehaltenen Händen

Akt eines Greises mit vorgehaltenen Händen is a study for one of the central figures in Klimt's mural masterpiece Philosophie (see fig. 1; lower left). Among three allegorical ceiling-paintings commissioned from Klimt for the great hall of the University of Vienna, dedicated to the disciplines of philosophy, medicine and jurisprudence, this work testifies to both Klimt's startling modernity--evident in the eccentric asymmetrical ordering of masses and planes in the composition--and his appreciation of art historical context harkening back to the traditions of French and Italian illusionistic ceiling-painting by suggesting interminable space through an implied breach of the actual ceiling. Though the painting was largely completed in 1900, Klimt continued perfecting it through 1905, ultimately buying the painting back and installing it in the home of the industrialist, and famed Klimt supporter, August Lederer. In 1938, the Lederer family, like other Jewish families, was dispossessed, and their art was restored to the family heir, Erich Lederer of Geneva, only after World War II. Among the treasures in Lederer's possession was not only Philosophie, but this haunting drawing.

As an additional point of interest, the inscription featured to the right of the figure's contorted body has been identified as the name, address and telephone number of the model depicted here.