Description
Leopold Czihaczek at the Piano is a 1907 work by Egon Schiele: the artist’s uncle and guardian, Leopold Czihaczek (1842–1929), playing the piano in his Vienna music room, seen from very close and from behind. The original is oil on canvas, measures 100.7 x 60.2 cm and is signed and dated lower right, “Schiele 12.V.07”. It is held by the Leopold Museum in Vienna under inventory number EX 42754, as a private collection on permanent loan. We paint it by hand in oils on canvas at the size you choose, and before dispatch we send you a photograph of the finished work for approval.
| Title: | Leopold Czihaczek at the Piano |
| Other titles: | the museum records it as Leopold Czihaczek am Klavier |
| Painter: | Egon Schiele (1890–1918) |
| Year: | 1907 |
| Original size (width × height): | 100.7 cm x 60.2 cm |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Style: | Late-Impressionist, early work |
| Location: | Leopold Museum, Vienna (inv. EX 42754) |
| Our reproduction: | hand-painted oil on canvas, 6 sizes from 50 x 30 cm to 165 x 100 cm, or a made-to-measure size |
Leopold Czihaczek at the Piano – Egon Schiele
What does the painting show?
In the museum’s reading the painting shows Leopold Czihaczek (1842–1929), Schiele’s uncle and guardian, at the piano in his music room in the Zirkusgasse in Vienna’s Leopoldstadt, where according to eyewitnesses two grand pianos stood. The scene is taken from very close. The head appears in lost profile and stands against the bright window panes, which carries the eye down to the sheet music. The hands Schiele painted deliberately out of focus, as though decoupled from the rest of the body, and it is they that sound the music. The museum reads this as an impression of complete absorption.
Why do people love it?
Because it is a scene everyone recognises: someone is playing and notices nothing around them. Nobody looks out at you, so the picture does not weigh on a room the way a portrait that looks back does. The colours are, as the museum describes them, muted and pastel, typical of Schiele’s early work, so the painting sits quietly with furniture and with a wall of any shade. And the unusually wide horizontal format helps exactly where the wall is low and long – above a piano, a sideboard or a low cabinet.
Where does it sit among Schiele’s works?
Among Schiele’s early works and among the portraits of his uncle. The museum notes that during his student years at the Vienna Academy, between 1906 and 1909, Schiele made several portraits of Leopold Czihaczek; one of them is the Portrait of Leopold Czihaczek (oil on canvas) from the same year, 1907, which we also offer. This work was made on 12 May 1907. 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. Two things are hard here. The first is the hands: they have to stay out of focus on purpose, not by accident. Sharpen them and the picture breaks into two halves; smudge them and it looks like a mistake, so the softness is built in gradually, from the wrist outwards. The second is the division into lit and shadowed areas, which in the museum’s reading is what carries this unusually wide horizontal format. The shadow has to stay transparent, or the long composition splits in two. 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?
Above a piano or a low cabinet, take 135 x 80 cm. The original is 100.7 cm wide and 60.2 cm high, and our 100 x 60 cm matches it almost exactly – if you want the work at the scale of the original, that is the one. Above a sofa, a piano or a long sideboard, 135 x 80 cm or 150 x 90 cm; above a desk, 100 x 60 cm or 110 x 65 cm; on a narrow band of wall, over a door or above shelves, 50 x 30 cm; on a large empty wall, 165 x 100 cm. Prices run from EUR 131 for the smallest to EUR 960 for the largest size. 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
Who was Leopold Czihaczek?
Schiele’s uncle and guardian (1842–1929). According to the museum record, after the early death of Schiele’s father Adolf (1850–1905) he took on co-guardianship of Egon and his younger sister Gertrude; like the father, he was a senior railway official.
Where is the scene set?
In Czihaczek’s music room in the Zirkusgasse in Vienna’s Leopoldstadt. The museum notes that, according to eyewitnesses, two grand pianos stood there.
Why are the hands blurred?
Because Schiele painted them that way on purpose. In the museum’s reading the hands are deliberately out of focus, as though decoupled from the rest of the body, and it is they that sound the music, while the eye is carried to the sheet music in front of the player.
When was the work made?
In 1907. Lower right are the signature and the date: “Schiele 12.V.07”, that is 12 May 1907. It dates from the period when Schiele was studying at the Vienna Academy and living in his uncle’s household.
How does it differ from your other Czihaczek portrait?
This one shows the uncle at the piano in a very wide horizontal format, with an original of 100.7 x 60.2 cm. The other is an upright portrait, also oil on canvas, with an original of 29 x 47 cm: Portrait of Leopold Czihaczek (oil on canvas).
Does it work as a gift?
Yes; if you are unsure which size to choose, there is a gift voucher.
