A Gustav Klimt portrait of a West African prince, long hidden away in a private collection, was displayed for the first time in nearly a century at last week’s European Fine Art Fair in Maastricht, the Netherlands.
Presented by Austrian gallery Wienerroither and Kohlbacher, the two-foot-tall 1897 oil painting depicts Prince William Nii Nortey Dowuon, a member of the Ga (Osu) people from present-day Ghana, against a backdrop of hazy floral forms.
Wienerroither and Kohlbacher rediscovered the work in 2023 after a couple of collectors brought the painting to the gallery. At the time, the work was poorly framed and heavily soiled. But a faded estate stamp hinted that it was an original Klimt, a fact later confirmed by art historian and Klimt expert Alfred Weidinger, who had been searching for the portrait for about 20 years.
“The composition and painterly execution point to Klimt’s turn towards decorative elements, which were to characterise his later work, and are directly linked to his pioneering portraits of the following years,” Weidinger said in a statement shared with Hyperallergic.
The floral elements in the painting can also be seen in Klimt’s “Portrait of Sonja Knips” (1897–8) and in later works such as portraits of Mäda Primavesi (1912–13) and Eugenia Primavesi (1913–14).
The work was created in the same year that Klimt co-founded the Vienna Secession movement with a group of Austrian architects, sculptors, and painters looking to break away from the rigid traditional styles and hierarchies of the country’s arts institutions at the time.
But in addition to serving as an early example of this progressive art movement, the painting also captures a dark side of European colonial history, as the painting’s subject had been recruited to participate in a Viennese völkerschau, exploitative ethnographic showcases or “human zoos” that were popular across the continent during the 19th century. Drawing upon ethnic stereotypes, these exhibitions generally featured communities from Asia, Africa, and Indigenous communities in northern regions.
Weidinger told the Washington Post that Prince William Nii Nortey Dowuon and 120 members of the Osu tribe took part in “guest performances” in Vienna from April to October 1897, where they were displayed in front of roughly 10,000 people daily.
It was during this time when the prince was in Vienna that Klimt and another Austrian artist, Franz Matsch, painted his portrait. Weidinger told the Post that a potential client may have chosen Matsch’s version, as Klimt’s version lacked a signature.
The painting was auctioned from his estate in 1923 and abandoned in 1938 when its Jewish owners fled the Nazi regime. Since the 1950s, the work had been in a private collection, Weidinger told the Washington Post.
After a restitution settlement with the heirs of the painting’s original owners and more than 18 months of restoration work, the painting made its public debut in Maastricht, where it was on view from March 15 to 20. It was on sale for €15 million ($16.2 million) — previous Klimt paintings have sold for €30 million ($32 million) and £85.3 million ($108.4 million) — and drew interest from several parties including a museum and some private buyers, the Washington Post reported, though the gallery did not confirm whether it has been sold.
A representative for the gallery told Hyperallergic that the finding was uncommon, to say the least. While it generally specializes in works by Klimt and Austrian Expressionist Egon Schiele, the gallery generally “rediscovers” drawings and watercolors by the artists, due to their high output of works on paper — not works on canvas.
“It is extremely rare for lost or previously unknown paintings by the two artists to be rediscovered,” the gallery representative said.