Description
Portrait of Eduard Kosmack is a 1910 painting by Egon Schiele: the publisher sits facing us in a dark suit, hands clasped between his knees and eyes fixed on the viewer, with a small sunflower at the lower right as the only break in the symmetry. We paint it by hand in oils at the size you choose, and before dispatch we send you a photograph of the finished work for approval.
| Title: | Portrait of Eduard Kosmack |
| Other titles: | Eduard Kosmack · Bildnis Eduard Kosmack |
| Painter: | Egon Schiele (1890–1918) |
| Year: | 1910, signed and dated centre left “S.10.” |
| Original size: | 99.8 cm x 99.5 cm |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Style: | Expressionism |
| Location: | Belvedere, Vienna |
| Our reproduction: | hand-painted oil on canvas, 15 sizes from 50 x 50 cm to 200 x 200 cm, or a made-to-measure size |
Portrait of Eduard Kosmack – Egon Schiele
What does the painting show?
A man seated facing us against a pale grey ground. His dark hair is cut short above a high forehead, a dark moustache sits over a closed mouth, and his pale eyes, rimmed with red, stare straight out. He wears a dark suit worked in greens and browns, with a white shirt collar showing at the neck. His arms are pressed close to his body, and his long, bony hands are clasped between his knees. A lighter band runs along the bottom, and at the lower right stands a small sunflower in brown, green and orange. The Belvedere’s record calls the sitter a publisher and notes that the sunflower is the only thing that interrupts the strict symmetry of the portrait. The Austrian painter signed and dated the work at the centre left: S.10.
Why do people love it?
Because it has presence. The gaze meets you head on, and one dark figure on a pale ground reads clearly from across a room. The layout is calm and balanced, and the small sunflower tips it just enough to keep the eye moving. The museum record speaks of a penetrating gaze and of bony hands and arms held close that stress a withdrawn character; both are plain to see, which gives the work a quiet tension. The colours are restrained – greys, dark greens and browns, with one touch of orange – so it sits easily with wood, stone or white walls in a study, a hallway or a living room.
Where does it sit among Schiele’s works?
If you are choosing among his figure paintings, compare it on our shelf with Portrait of Herbert Reiner (Reiner Boy), Portrait of Wally Neuzil and Mother with Two Children III. 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?
One painter in our workshop paints your copy by hand in oils, stroke by stroke, for your order alone; it is not a print. The original is oil on canvas, and so is our copy. Three passages need the most care. The first is the face: the pale, red-rimmed eyes and the greenish and reddish tones of the skin carry the whole portrait, and softened they would lose it. The second is the suit, which is not one flat dark but a weave of visible green and brown strokes. The third is the pale ground, which has to stay a lively grey with its brushwork showing, not an empty wall. When the work 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 the page shows no workshop photographs; we will add them once we have them.
Which size for which wall?
We offer fifteen sizes, from 50 x 50 cm to 200 x 200 cm. Above a desk or a chest of drawers, 60 x 60 cm or 70 x 70 cm works well. In a study or a hallway, where you pass close by, 90 x 90 cm is enough for the face to hold its own. Above a sofa or a bed, choose 100 x 100 cm or 120 x 120 cm. On a large wall, in a stairwell or in a room with a high ceiling, 150 x 150 cm or 200 x 200 cm gives the figure the space it asks for. A canvas painting with a gaze this direct also needs a little distance, so leave room in front of it. If you are torn between two sizes, cut paper to both, tape the sheets to the wall and live with them for a day. A hand-painted painting hangs best with its centre at eye level, roughly 145–150 cm from the floor; above a sofa, 15–25 cm above the backrest.
Custom size, stretcher bar and frame
If none of the sizes suits your wall, we paint the work to your own measurement. If you choose YES under the Podokvir (stretcher bar) 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. 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 Eduard Kosmack?
Eduard Kosmack (1880–1947) was a Viennese publisher whose house issued the magazines Der Architekt and Das Interieur. He was 30 when Schiele painted him. The contact came through the critic Arthur Roessler, who became editor of Das Interieur in 1910 and encouraged the commission.
When did Schiele paint Portrait of Eduard Kosmack?
In 1910, when Schiele was twenty; the canvas carries the signature and date “S.10.” at the centre left. It is painted in oils and measures 99.8 x 99.5 cm, so it is almost exactly square.
Where is Portrait of Eduard Kosmack today?
In the Belvedere in Vienna, where it hangs in the Upper Belvedere under inventory number 4702. The museum bought it in 1953 from Ferdinand Eckhardt, who had owned it since 1928; before that it belonged to Kosmack himself, in Mödling.
What does Portrait of Eduard Kosmack mean?
The Belvedere compares the sitter to a hypnotist casting his spell: beneath a very high forehead his penetrating gaze hits the viewer full on. His bony hands and the arms pressed close to his body stress a withdrawn character. Gesture, posture and facial expression carry the portrait, and the small sunflower is the only thing that breaks its strict symmetry.
Is Portrait of Eduard Kosmack a famous painting?
It is one of the key portraits of Schiele’s early expressionist years and is shown in the permanent collection of the Upper Belvedere. Writers on it single out the strict frontal, symmetrical pose, which recalls Ferdinand Hodler, and the staring, almost hypnotic gaze.
Does it work as a gift?
Yes; if you are unsure which size to choose, there is a gift voucher.
