Description
Houses at Town Hall Square is a small oil sketch by Egon Schiele from 1908: a row of houses on the town hall square in Klosterneuburg, the town north of Vienna where Schiele grew up. It is painted in oils on cardboard. The original is held by the Leopold Museum in Vienna under inventory number LM 4140 and measures 21.8 x 19.2 cm. We paint it by hand in oils on canvas, in one of six sizes or to your own measurement, and before dispatch we send you a photograph of the finished work for approval.
| Title: | Houses at Town Hall Square |
| Other titles: | the museum’s German title is Häuser auf dem Klosterneuburger Rathausplatz |
| Painter: | Egon Schiele (1890–1918) |
| Year: | 1908 |
| Original size (width × height): | 21.8 cm x 19.2 cm |
| Original technique: | Oil on cardboard |
| Style: | Expressionism |
| Location: | Leopold Museum, Vienna (inv. LM 4140) |
| Our reproduction: | hand-painted oil on canvas, 6 sizes from 40 x 35 cm to 170 x 150 cm, or a made-to-measure size |
Houses at Town Hall Square – Egon Schiele
What does the painting show?
In the museum’s account the picture shows a row of houses on Klosterneuburg’s town hall square, the central square of the town. It was painted in the immediate vicinity of Klosterneuburg Abbey, where from mid-May to the end of June 1908 Schiele took part in an exhibition for the first time, with ten oil paintings. This is therefore a small oil sketch made on the spot rather than a large studio picture. The format is nearly square, a little wider than it is tall. The museum record does not describe the colours of this sketch, so we do not list them either.
Why do people love it?
Because it is a place you can still visit: the town hall square in Klosterneuburg exists and the houses are standing. The work also carries a good date – it was made in the weeks when the eighteen-year-old Schiele first exhibited. A nearly square format is easy to live with: it carries a smaller wall on its own and works even better in a pair or a group, because square pictures align with one another more readily than elongated ones. And because it is a sketch, the picture stays loose – work like that usually wears better in a home than something highly finished.
Where does it sit among Schiele’s works?
Among Schiele’s early Klosterneuburg scenes. He moved to Klosterneuburg in 1902, the rest of the family followed in 1904, and in the autumn of 1906 he was accepted by the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna; this picture is from 1908, from the years when he was still returning to the town of his youth. Houses and roofs stayed a subject to the end; later examples in our selection are Krumau on the Vltava (The Small Town IV), Houses on the River (The Old Town) and House Wall on the River. According to the provenance in the museum record the work passed through several auctions and private collections, was bought by Rudolf Leopold in 1984, and entered the Leopold Museum in 1994. The full selection is in the Egon Schiele gallery, with more on his life in our article about Egon Schiele.
How is our hand-painted version made?
A painter works every canvas in oils, stroke by stroke: a hand-painted painting made for your order, not a machine print. The hard thing here is looseness. An oil sketch is painted fast, and speed is the first thing lost in copying: if the painter deliberates over every stroke the sketch turns into a smoothed-out picture and loses the best of itself. The second thing is scale – the original fits in a hand and our sizes are far larger, so the strokes have to be set again on the bigger canvas. The original is oil on cardboard; our copy is oil on canvas. When it is finished we photograph it and send you the photograph for approval, and only then does it ship. This work has not yet been photographed in our workshop, so there are no workshop photographs of it on this page yet.
Which size for which wall?
The original is small, 21.8 cm wide and 19.2 cm high, and nearly square. On a small wall, in a niche or as part of a group of pictures, 40 x 35 cm, at 131 EUR the least expensive choice; above a desk, in a hallway or in a kitchen, 85 x 75 cm; above a sofa or sideboard in the living room, 120 x 105 cm or 130 x 115 cm; on a large clear wall, 155 x 135 cm; in a tall or open room, 170 x 150 cm. Prices run from 131 EUR for 40 x 35 cm to 864 EUR for 170 x 150 cm. Nearly square pictures want about the same space on all four sides; if you hang several together, keep 5-8 cm between the frames. Hang it with the centre at eye level, about 145-150 cm from the floor.
Custom size, stretcher bar and frame
If none of our sizes suits your wall, we paint the work to your own measurement. If you choose “YES” under the Stretcher option, the canvas comes stretched on a wooden stretcher bar, ready to hang. Our 3D application is for choosing a frame only, not for showing the work on your wall. The frame is chosen separately and need not be part of the order.
Delivery and guarantee
We paint to order and deliver to sixteen countries in the European Union, among them Slovenia, Croatia, Austria, Italy, Hungary, Germany and France; the United Kingdom and Ireland are not currently among them. The painting arrives protectively packed and, if you chose “YES” under Stretcher, stretched on the stretcher bar; before dispatch we send you a photograph of the finished work to approve. Production time depends on the size and on the studio’s workload. Every order is covered by our Returns and Refund Policy.
Frequently asked questions
Which square does it show?
The town hall square in Klosterneuburg, the town immediately north of Vienna. The museum record names a row of houses on that square as the subject. The square is still there today, which makes the work interesting as a memory of a place as well.
When and in what circumstances was it painted?
In 1908. According to the museum record, in the immediate vicinity of Klosterneuburg Abbey, where from mid-May to the end of June 1908 Schiele took part in an exhibition for the first time with ten oil paintings. He was eighteen at the time.
Is the painting signed?
The museum record names no signature for this work. The date of 1908 comes from the museum record. On small oil sketches of this period an absent signature is normal.
What does it mean that this is an oil sketch?
That it was painted quickly and on a small support, here cardboard, usually in front of the subject rather than in a studio. A sketch is not worth less than a finished picture; it is simply more direct, and that is exactly why many people prefer one.
Does it suit a gallery wall of several pictures?
Very well. A nearly square format sits easily alongside other formats, so 40 x 35 cm or 85 x 75 cm is a practical choice for a group. With several pictures, keep the same gap between all of them, 5-8 cm.
Does it work as a gift?
Yes; if you are unsure which size to choose, there is a gift voucher.
